Akatsuki's Princess
by Pleasereadmything
Summary: After Yahiko's death, Konan gave birth to Sakura. Naming her princess of Akatsuki. When she is 12, she is sent on a mission to become a spy in the village, Konoha. She has developed extraordinary powers she has to keep secret about.
1. The Princess

On a cold night, a little child was born. With her emerald eyes open she took a look at her new family. Nine people in weird black and red cloaks were staring at her from a distance, her mother and father(Pain and Konan) were taking turns holding her.

"She'll be the princess of Akatsuki." Said Pain. He looked weird in my eyes, his eyes were purple and had weird circles circling the pupil. And piercings were embedded on his face. My mother however looked pretty normal in my eyes. She only had a piercing below her lip. Pain looked at Konan, "Yahiko would have been proud." A smile shone on his face. A sad smile. Konan was crying and nodding at the same time.

"What's her name?" Asked Tobi (Supposedly Madara Uchiha but actually Obito Uchiha) His orange swirled mask hid his face. It looked like ice cream, yum. I giggled, everyone was taken by surprise. It's like they never heard a laugh in their entire life.

Konan smiled at her child, "Her name is Sakura."

"It's incredible," Orochimaru was talking to Sasori, "The child is only one, yet she has already mastered basic genin training." Sasori glanced at the cute one year old child that was playing with a rat. She had unnatural pink hair and beautiful emerald eyes. Konan suspects that someone in her/Yahiko's family tree had pink hair. There was no other explanation.

Sasori was keeping a close eye on the girl, "Isn't it dangerous for her to play with a dirty rat inside a lab filled with explodable chemicals?" He asked Orochimaru. He knew that if anything happened to Sakura, Konan and Pain would kill them both. Orochimaru waved his hand to dismiss the question, he went back to his 'research'.

Time Skip: Five years later

"Did to!" Tobi yelled at little Sakura.

"Did not!" Six year old Sakura yelled back at Tobi

"Did to!"

"Did not!" Their voices growing louder with each sentence.

"DID TO!"

"DID NOT!"

Finally Konan came in to stop the racket. "What the heck is going on?" She demanded the pair. The two folded their arms and turned their backs on each other.

"Sakura promised to not eat my precious chocolate fingers. But when I come back from the bathroom, all of them were gone!" Explained Tobi.

Sakura turned around to face Tobi's back, "I told you! I had to use the bathroom after you left. So I went to the bathroom, and when I came back all I saw were crumbs!"

Tobi faced Sakura, "Yeah. Because you ate them!" He accused Sakura.

The two were bickering back and forth like a ping pong table. It's amazing how Tobi acts exactly like a child, those two were perfect for each other.

"STOP!" Ordered Konan. Here voice was heard above the fight. "What are chocolate fingers?" She asked the two.

Sakura and Tobi were looking at her strangely.

Konan was surprised by their reaction, "What?"

Tobi grabbed her shoulders and looked her straight in her eyes, "Are you MAD WOMAN?!" He screamed the question in her face. Luckily he wore a mask or else Konan would have spit sprayed all over her makeup. She grimaced at the sudden increase in volume.

Tobi and Sakura started going into great detail on what a chocolate finger was. They even brought in a whiteboard and were drawing a detailed diagram on the ingredients, candy structure, and history. Basically, it was a wafer shaped as a finger covered in a thick layer of chocolate. After the demonstration they combined forces and pushed the whiteboard toward the door. And waiting at the door was... Deidara.

"Shit..." He caught the whiteboard before it could slam into his body. The whiteboard inches from his face. He pushed the whiteboard to the side and stomped toward Tobi and Sakura.

"Are you two out of your minds?! You could have seriously hurt-" Deidara started confronting them but stopped when Tobi and Sakura put their noses on his coat. They were sniffing him all over, his arms, stomach, even his head. A sweat dropped from his face, "What are you doing?" He asked the two. Finally they stopped, slowly withdrawing in perfect unison.

"Tobi, I smell something on Deidara san's cloak." Sakura said, her eyes wide with bewilderment.

'Oh no...' Konan thought. When her daughter had that look, she discovered something new and she didn't like it.

"You're right Sakura, I smell it too..." Tobi's voice sounded like a monotone.

"You," They said together, voices growling, "ATE THE CHOCOLATE FINGERS!"

Few minutes later, Deidara was on the floor whining like a puppy, various bumps appeared on his head, his face swollen with bruises.. Sakura and Tobi both beat him up when they realized that Deidara was the one who ate the chocolate fingers.

Sakura and Tobi grasped each other's hands. "I'm sorry, I jumped to conclusions." Tobi said to Sakura.

"It's alright. I forgive you." Sakura said. They were shaking hands, they forgot that they were standing on Deidara's back.

"GET OFF MY FREAKING BACK!" He growled. He stopped when he saw the look on the two's faces. Their eyes were glittering, they had the urge to kill.

Konan lead Sakura away from the war zone. Tobi was still beating up Deidara. A sweat dropped from Konan's face as she lead Sakura to her room.

"Sweetie, here's your schedule for the week." Konan handed a sheet of paper filled with what classes she had. Each Akatsuki member would help train Sakura so that she could one day take over Akatsuki.

Sakura's Schedule

4:00-6:30 Pain (Practice all six elements/The world)

6:35-7:20 Deidara (Art of bombs/clay)

7:25-8:30 Mom (Paper/Basic training)

8:35-9:40 Zetsu (Meditation/Chakra Control)

9:45-10:50 Orochimaru (?)

10:55-12:00 Kisame (Weoponry)

12:00-12:04 Lunch

12:05-1:10 Kakuzu (Healing/Bargaining)

1:15-2:20 Hidan (Rituals/Pain)

2:25-3:30 Sasori (Puppetry/Poisons)

3:35-4:40 Tobi (?)

4:45 Dinner

10:00 Bed Time

I look at my mom as she brushes my hair, "What's with the question marks on Orochimaru and Tobi sensei?"

Her mother had a sad smile, "They have a special surprise for you." That was all she said, she refused to answer anymore questions.

Sakura had a pained look on her face, when she saw what she had to do with Pain sensei. "Why do I have to review the six elements again? I already mastered the basics. All I need to know are some new and powerful ninjutsu."

Konan sighed, her baby girl was only six, yet she was talking like an adult. "Because," She paused, "Even if you mastered the elements, you have to review so you don't forget." Sakura stopped with the questions.


	2. Gaining but Losing

It was 9:50, she was sitting on a stool in Orochimaru's lab. Her red ribbon helped keep her hair out of her eyes. Her mother always insisted on cutting her hair, Sakura however was stubborn and wanted to grow her hair out long for no particular reason. Anyway, she was sitting on a stool, mixing different colored liquids, heating them together, and came out with different results.

"What are you doing?" A cold snake-like voice asked behind the busy Sakura.

Sakura slowly turned around and saw Orochimaru, no expression was shone on his face.

"I was mixing different chemicals to get something new." Sakura answered. She held up a violet colored liquid in a test tube that smelled oddly like bacon. Orochimaru gently removed the tube from her hand and cleared the table.

"I'm sorry I touched your things..." Sakura showed her puppy eyes.

Orochimaru was about to say it was fine, but stopped when he saw a liquid boiling in a teapot. One of Sakura's creations. Orochimaru took the teapot off the stove and peered inside. It was a blood red liquid with no smell, he dipped in the tip of his finger and tasted it. He was surprised, this was the item he was trying to create for years. He glanced back at the puppy faced Sakura, 'I spent years developing this but failed. How did this girl...' He though in his mind. In order to not look suspicious, he carefully placed the teapot in a nearby box. Sealing it shut, he turned to Sakura. "Sakura, do you know the three main dojutsu's?" He asked Sakura.

Sakura's face brightened assuming that Orochimaru forgave her, "I know. The Sharingan, Rinnegan, and Byakugan. Our leader, Pain sensai, has the Rinnegan."

Orochimaru nodded, his face showed no expression. "Through many years of research, I found a way to implant the three dojutsu's into someone without a kekkei genkai to that specific clan. I received orders from Pain to insert all three into you."

My jaw was hanging open. Sakura was completely taken off guard, she couldn't believe this was happening. "Wait, why can't someone else receive the dojutsu's?"

Orochimaru felt anger, he longed for the Sharingan ever since he first laid his eyes on them. However, he had a different plan on receiving the Sharingan that would require a great load of time. Time he might not have. "Reasons you don't need to know." Sakura couldn't hear the resentment in his voice. He straightened his back, "The process will be difficult and painful. Do you still want to continue?"

Sakura stared at him for what seemed like five minutes, she finally had her answer, "Yes."

Sakura had to skip her lesson with Kisame because the transformation was taking longer than expected. Finally, it was lunch. All of the Akaktsuki members were gathered in the dining hall, some eating, some ignoring the food that was laid in front of them and were doing strange activities. The only ones absent were Orochimaru and Sakura. Konan was worried, Lunch was halfway over.

"Don't worry Konan," Said Pain, "Sakura will be fine." Pain was trying to reassure her that Sakura was safe. Konan nodded and gave a slight smile, even though the body was Yahiko's, Nagato's voice could be heard underneath. The entrance opened with a dramatic bang. Everyone was turning, standing, or adjusting their necks to see their 'little sister'. Orochimaru was helping Sakura walk around, a blindfold that covered her eyes. When Konan saw this, she jumped from her seat and patted Sakura.

"Oh, my baby..." Tears were coming to Konan's eyes, "I'm so sorry you're feeling this torture." She hugged her child.

Sakura smiled, "Mom, I'm okay." But something about Sakura's smile felt fake. It's like her smile wasn't alive.

"Don't worry Konan sama, her eyesight will return by tomorrow morning. I bet my life on it." Orochimaru assured.

Konan glared at Orochimaru, "You better..." She didn't need to finish her sentence. Everyone already knew what would happen if Orochimaru's results were a failure.

"Hey Sakura," Called Tobi, "Catch!"He threw the apple that was in his hand toward Sakura. The other's were shocked at Tobi's thoughtlessness. Right when Konan was about to stop the apple from hitting Sakura, it stopped in midair, then landed on the ground. Konan looked at Pain, wanting to thank him. But he was confused, he didn't stop the apple. Konan slowly turned her head toward her daughter, she took the blindfold, and pulled it off. Her left eye was the sharingan, with two tomoes revolving the pupil. Her right was the rinnegan.

Sakura gave another fake smile, "Mom, watch this." The two dojutsu's disappeared, only to be replaced by pearly white eyes. The byakugan. Konan gasped. Sakura was still fake smiling when she returned her eyes to normal.

All the Akatsuki member were gathered in Pain's office/war office. Konan slammed Orochimaru into the wall, leaving a human sized dent. The others were holding her back.

"HOW DARE YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER?!" She screamed her question to Orochimaru, tears strolling down her eyes. Her arm transformed into a giant paper hand.

Orochimaru had his hand on his shoulder, grimacing from the pain. "I only did as you asked."

Konan face had a dark look, "I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO CHANGE HER COMPLETELY!" She was struggling against her restraint.

Finally, after what seemed like hours. Pain was able to calm Konan into sitting down and drinking hot tea.

"What else did you to my daughter? I know you did more than just give her the dojutsu's." She glared at Orochimaru, waiting for answers.

Orochimaru sighed, "I gave her part of Hashirama Senju's DNA that I've saved-"

"How did you get that kind of DNA?" Asked Tobi. Something mysterious was hidden in his voice.

"That is none of your business." He told Tobi. They stared at each other for a few seconds, then Tobi shrugged and retreated to the back of the pack. Orochimaru directed his attention back to the waiting audience.

"I inserted Hashirama Senju's DNA which now allows Sakura to use the wood element." Orochimaru declared.

The others had a baffled look on their faces.

Konan face was a sign that someone was going to die, "And you did this without my permission?" Her voice cut through the air like a knife. Or even worse, a paper cut. Ha... That was a terrible pun.

Orochimaru shifted uncomfortably, he decided to take his leave, and left.


	3. Itachi Sensei

Time Skip: Two Years Later

Eight, the magic number that looks like infinity if you place it on it's side. Sakura has made ginormous improvement during the last two years. She fully mastered the Byakugan, and the fighting style of the Hyuga Clan. (Involving Tobi, Sakura, and using the sharingan. Repeatedly snuck into the Hyuga Clan's home base and watched training from a distance.) Last year, she also lived with cats. Literally, she lived in an empire filled with cats. Cats were masters or deception, taijutsu, and even landing on their feet. Her mother asked Nekomata a favor, she wanted Sakura taught the cat ways. Which involved catnip, rope, and wearing fuzzy ears on her head for more than five months. When she came back, forgetting to remove the fuzzy cat ears, Hidan, Deidara, and Tobi were laughing like crazy. Sakura shut them up with a ton of punches that left dark, nasty bruises. Sakura's sharingan however stayed the same, only two tomoes circled her pupil, the only way to access mangekyou sharingan was to kill someone dear to her. But she just couldn't, the Akatsuki were the people dear to her, she couldn't kill her own family. So, her sharingan remained the same. With the rinnegan, she almost completely mastered it. She can see the chakra/chakra points that develop inside the enemy, she can even see invisible barriers that Pain put up to surprise me. Sakura, however, is still working on the Limbo:Border Jail technique. Meaning she can create corporeal shadows that only she can see. Sakura's also working on teleporting items, last time she tried that on a real human being, Tobi. The last thing everyone could remember was chasing around a pair of feet, and trying to find the head. Luckily, Orochimaru pieced Tobi back together. But Tobi has nightmares about the grim reaper cutting his body into pieces. Hidan doesn't help at all, he encourages Tobi's fear by cutting off his head and shoving it in front of Tobi's face. Poor Tobi. One time he fainted so bad, Sakura could see some white foam coming out of the eyehole of his mask. Gross, but still, poor Tobi. And guess what, Akatsuki gained a new member. Meaning a new big bro/sensei for Sakura. Yay... I know she doesn't sound that excited, but she feels like someone locked away all her emotions in a box and threw the box away. The only thing she could do, is to force a fake smile on her face (Refer to Sai if you can't get a clear image). Even that looks terrible.

"What are you thinking about?" A rough low voice asked Sakura. She twirled around, she didn't see anyone there, then she looked down. There was Sasori, in his favorite puppet suit.

"Nothing." She replies to him. The only face she could naturally make was her blank expression.

Sasori was lugging her way past her, "Well then, take that nothing and throw it away so that we aren't late for the meeting. Their introducing the new member." Sakura really doesn't think that Sasori should be the one talking, his puppet costume reduced his walking speed by half. She follows him anyway without complaint.

Sakura and Sasori make it to the meeting, luckily they weren't classified as late. Deidara and Tobi were held up at a dumpling shop, or so she heard.

In a dumpling shop:

Deidara was grunting, "Tobi! We're late! Would you hurry up and order?!"

Tobi was trying to decide between what kind of filling he wanted the dumplings to have. "Hold it, these things take time. You never know when you're gonna order dumplings ever again." He told Deidara while still looking at the menu sign hanging over the cash register.

Deidara's vein popped, "I'M GONNA BEEP IF YOU DON'T HURRY UP AND ORDER!"

A woman nearby heard this offensive language and slapped Deidara before leaving the shop. Muttering something about offensive language. Tobi was laughing.

"Haha! Deidy got schooled!" Tobi threw back his head laughing. Deidara had the final straw.

"Welcome our new member, Itachi Uchiha." We all stared at the door waiting, the door burst open, and out came...Deidara and Tobi. Except Tobi was encased in Deidara's explosive clay. Deidara looked satisfied and angry, Tobi didn't seem to mind, a dumpling stick was moving from Tobi's eyehole. Everyone's sweat dropped.

"Sorry we're late, this kid held us up." He glared at Tobi.

"Raise your hand if you agree that you should buy dumplings because you never know when you'll find another shop." Tobi asked the others. Everyone raised their hands, even Pain. Deidara had a surprised look on his face, he then started taking/eating back his clay, freeing Tobi.

Walking in from the door was a boy, maybe around 13-14, black hair, cold eyes, and wearing the Akatsuki cloak. A ring on his right fourth finger.

Pain stood up, "Everyone, welcome Itachi Uchiha." Sakura looked at Itachi, he looked scary in others eyes. But in hers, he looked sad.

"Sweetie, for now on, you're training with Itachi. With your sharingan." Konan said the last words with a bitter tone.

"Okay." That's all Sakura says as she dresses in her usual white dress. Konan stopped her, Sakura looked at her mom, wondering why. Konan had a smile on her face, she brought out a box with a pretty ribbon on top.

"This is yours." She told Sakura.

Sakura gingerly took the box, and opened it. It was her own Akatsuki coat. Sakura smiled, except this one was fake too. She hasn't used a genuine smile in years. "Thanks, Mom." Sakura hugged her mom. Konan had a downcast look pasted on her face. Her only daughter was like a robot. Free of emotion, not showing a hint of happiness.

"Itachi, can I call you sensei?" Asked Sakura, wearing her new Akatsuki cloak. The sleeves were too long and were hanging from her short arms.

Itachi looked at Sakura, "Very well. But first, may I see your sharingan?"

Sakura nodded, she showed her sharingan. The sharingan on the left, and the rinnegan on the right. She couldn't separate the two, no matter how hard she tried. The byakugan was the only dojutsu that was separate from the others.

Itachi took a long look at Sakura's sharingan, "What have you mastered so far?" He asked.

Sakura had a glazed look, "I've mastered countering my opponents attacks. And some genjutsu's."

Itachi nodded, "Can you show me a genjutsu you mastered?"

Sakura fake smiled, "Sure, just wai-" But a she suddenly started coughing blood, kneeling on the floor, clutching her heart.

Itachi didn't try to help, "Impressive..." He muttered.

The scene disappeared, the real Sakura was at the entrance of the door.

Itachi moved a hand through his hair, "Now, I know what to teach you."

"Did you hear?" A voice asked. Sakura stopped at the entrance of the dining hall.

"What?" A voice asked again.

"Orochimaru tried to take Itachi as a vessel, he failed then left Akatsuki." The voice answered.

"No way." The other voice said.

Sakura scoffed, guards seriously have nothing else to do. She started walking toward Orochimaru's old lab. 'It's true though. Orochimaru fled after his failed attempt to catch Itachi as a vessel.' She thought. When she was at the entrance of the lab, a hooded figure was already standing in front of it. As if trying to pick the lock. Sakura brought out a long, sharp pin she kept hidden in her hair, the figure turned around when he/she heard the noise. It was Orochimaru trying to lock his old lab.

"Sakura chan." Orochimau muttered.

"I thought you left?" Asked Sakura.

Orochimaru glanced at Sakura, his expression was unreadable, "I had to close up the lab." He went back to sealing the door. When he was done, he felt a rush of wind. He looked down and saw the eight year old Sakura hugging Orochimaru. His arms were at his side, not sure what to do.

"Bye, sensei." He heard Sakura mutter. Sakura withdrew her hug, and walked away as if nothing happened. Orochimaru smirked and left in a puff of smoke.

* * *

**Thank you for the continuing support. Reviews are encouraged. Hopefully I don't get stuck right when I'm in the middle of the story. **


	4. The Number 12

Time Skip: Four Years Later

"Happy Birthday, Sakura!" Hollered the Akatsuki members. The middle of the table piled with presents.

Sakura forced a smile, "Thanks everyone!" She called. She opened her presents one by one.

Pain: Scrolls containing dangerous jutsu's/weopons/pets

Konan: Special paper

Deidara: Exploding clay

Itachi: Books

Zetsu: Another book, about how to interact with human beings

Kisame: A retractable sword that sucks chakra, like his sword, Samehada. The sword is called Yuzuki

Kakuzu: 1,000 ryo. Yay

Hidan: Another book, about special rituals

Sasori: Summoning scroll for one of his personally made puppets

Tobi: Box of chocolate fingers. Yipee

While Sakura was putting her presents away, she realized everyone was quiet. Too quiet.

"Sakura," Konan started to say, she was hesitating, "The Akatsuki has decided, to send you on your first mission."

Sakura looked at her mother, surprised. Her mother told her she would get her first mission when she was 15. She's getting it three years early.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

Konan kneeled in order to look Sakura in the face. "We want you to live in Konoha, for a few years. As a spy."

Sakura was packing her bags, taking her birthday presents with her. Her mother explained that they wanted her as a spy to keep track on Konoha's movement. A very important job. She also said that Sakura would have to participate in missions, chunnin exams, and many other things in order to blend in. She was fine with that, as long as her teammates don't drag her down. Pain said it was very important that Sakura hid her true strength, people would find it suspicious if Sakura was a freaking war machine instead of a helpless girl. They allowed Sakura to show off, just a bit, during the chunnin exams. Saying that she has an excuse on why she has so much power. Konan gave her colored emerald colored contact lenses.

"You can use your sharingan and rinnegan, without others knowing. But please try to not use your byakugan and wood jutsu's in public." Konan took a look at her daughter, she hugged her, "My daughter's grown up." Tears were leaking from her eyes.

Sakura just finished packing and was studying her alibi. Her last name is Haruno, she's and orphan under a special scholarship paid by Konoha's government, etc. She had to study this to make sure not to mess up. Suddenly, Sakura pulled out a kunai. Looking left, right, up, down, and finally she swiftly turned around, aiming her kunai at Itachi. Sakura sighed and returned her kunai to her pouch.

"Too slow, I could have killed you instantly." The first thing Itachi said.

Sakura bowed her head, "I'm sorry, sensei." Her long pink hair covered her head.

Itachi pulled up Sakura's head so that she can look at him in the eye. "I want to ask you a favor." Sakura was listening.

Itachi sat down in a nearby chair, "I want you to watch over my little brother, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura pondered the thought, then nodded, "Yes, sensei."

Itachi lowered his head and closed his eyes, thinking of a deep thought, "If my brother seeks power, and it involves leaving his home, don't stop him."

Sakura was confused at the thought, "Why?"

Itachi looked at Sakura, "He must get stronger in order to kill me."

"I'm gonna miss you Sakura chan! Tobi hugged Sakura and was waving her in the air. "I'm gonna miss you! Come visit! Make sure to buy chocolate fingers! Kill people who annoy you!" He said this as she was twirling Sakura in the air. Momentarily, making her dizzy. Deidara punched Tobi in order to make him stop. Tobi was sitting in the corner, holding his wounded head. When everyone finally said goodbye, and her crying mother hugging the life out of her. Sakura unrolled a special telportation scroll in order to teleport a few feet from Konoha.

"Why are we always stuck at patrol duty?" Asked Kotetsu.

"Why don't you ask the Hokage why?" Asked Izumo.

"Yeah, right. I'll lose my job just by asking." Said Kotetsu.

"Huh? Who's that?" Kotetsu asked, pointing at Sakura.

Izumo took a sheet of paper from his fanny pack and inspected it, "That's the new student. Sakura Haruno."

When Sakura was at the gate, she almost passed by the pair.

"Excuse me?" Asked Izumo, holding a piece of paper and walking to Sakura. She turned around and looked at the man.

"You're Sakura Haruno, right?" he asked.

Sakura nodded once. Her face showed no expression.

Izumo smiled, "Welcome to Konoha. We're supposed to be your guides. Do you have-"

"Give me the paper." Sakura interupted.

"Eh?" Izumo looked confused, "Um, sure..." Izumo handed the piece of paper containing a map of Konoha, along with her new address.

Sakura took the paper and walked away.

"Don't you need help?!" He called after Sakura. She ignored him and kept walking away, studying the map.

Izumo walked back to Kotetsu's side, "Kids are so rude these days." He muttered.

Naruto was grinning and running, flashing off his headband to everyone he saw. He was running and saw Kiba, he stopped and flashed his headband.

"Hey, Kiba! Look what I got! Naruto said. Reflecting the light into Kiba's eyes.

Kiba was squinting, "Get that thing out of my face!" He shouted. Akamaru barked in agreement.

Naruto pouted, "Sour puss."

"What did you say?!" Kiba demanded.

Naruto turned around and was about to run but bumped into a girl. He fell on his but, the girl also fell down and her suitcase clanged to the ground.

Kiba checked Naruto, "Naruto, you alright?" Kiba looked at the girl checking her suitcase, "Hey! You should look where you're going seriou-" Kiba stopped when he saw her face. Her pink hair shined in the light, her emerald eyes glistened. Her long hair waved in the wind. Kiba felt his face growing warm, he started reaching a pink color. Naruto felt the same thing when he saw her.

"Sorry..." The girl muttered. She picked up her suitcase, and scampered off. Just when the two recovered from the shock they forgot to ask her name.

"WAIT! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!" They shouted into the crowd. They looked around, she disappeared.


	5. Introduction

"All right, I'll announce the teams." Iruka started calling names out for each group. Naruto and Kiba were looking around, hoping the girl they saw yesterday was going to come. She wasn't there. The two sighed and sunk into their chairs.

'The girls are not going to like this.' Iruka thought. Finally, Iruka announced team 7, "Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."

The girls were crying out in agony, the boys were trying to ignore their whining.

"Wait a minute, Iruka sensei." Naruto started to ask, "Who's Sakura?"

Iruka looked at Naruto then at a pile of papers, looking for a certain one when he found it, he studied it trying to find the answer. "A new transfer, earned her headband yesterday night, and should've been here by now..." Iruka was staring at the door.

'I'm going to make that girl miserable!' Thought Ino, hatred filled her mind.

"AAHHH... Our sensei is late!" Complained Naruto, "Our new teammate is late too!"

Sasuke was sitting in the corner, hands folded, waiting. Naruto had a mischievous look on his face, he grabbed a powdered eraser and placed in in the door. Sasuke did nothing, Naruto was snickering as he quickly removed the stool. Footsteps could be heard from the hallway, Naruto was waiting in front of some desks waiting. The door rolls open, and out came, the beautiful pink haired girl from yesterday. Everything was going in slow motion, Naruto was running to stop the eraser, Sasuke looked astonished at the beautiful girl, Sakura was looking up at the eraser.

'Heh. What a useless prank. Should I catch it?' Sakura started thinking, she glanced down to see her new teammates, 'the blonde is Naruto Uzumaki, the nine tailed jinchuuriki.' she glanced at Sasuke,

'Sasuke Uchiha, younger brother of Itachi Uchiha.' she glanced at the falling eraser, ' What should I do? Catch it? No, I need to act weak.' Sakura waits for the eraser to fall on her face, but a hand already caught it. Behind her was a jounin with white hair, a mask covered his mouth and his headband covered his left eye. Naruto stopped running, Sasuke only looked surprised.

The man studied the eraser, then studied the Naruto and Sasuke. "Hmm... How can I say this? My first impression is... I don't like you two." He looked at Naruto and Sasuke. A sweat dropped from their faces.

The four were on the roof, starting introductions.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future...mmm. And I have a lot of hobbies." A sweat dropped from everyone's faces.

'He told us basically nothing. Eh, maybe he's hiding his true strength." Thought Sakura.

"Alright, blondie, your turn." Kakshi pointed at Naruto.

Naruto smiled in enthusiasm, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. What I like is cup ramen and..." His voice grew distant as he glanced at Sakura, Sakura looked back, and smiled. That increased the blush that was on his face, "Um, I dislike waiting for my ramen to be done and..." He glared at Sasuke, "My dream, is to become Hokage! And hobbies, probably pranks."

Kakshi shook his hair, "Next."

It was Sasuke's turn, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are a lot of things I dislike, I don't really like anything. I only have an ambition, to restore my clan, and to kill a certain man." Silence hung in the air.

'He probably means Itachi,' Sakura sighed, ' Well, Itachi will be happy.'

'He better not mean me.' Thought Naruto, he was slowly. scooting away from Sasuke.

'Like I thought.' Said Kakshi in his mind. He pointed at Sakura, "You're turn."

Sakura took a deep breath, "My name is Haruno Sakura, I like..." She drifted off, thinking about it. She liked studying with Pain, making oragami with Konan, creating cute animal explosives with Deidara, reading books with Itachi, meditating with Zetsu, mixing chemicals with Orochimaru(Before he left), sword fighting with Kisame, playing poker with Kakuzu(Away from her mother), watching Hidan perform his special rituals, making and practicing with puppets made by Sasori, and playing pranks with Tobi. But it was too much to say in one sentence. So instead she said, "a lot of things, I dislike..." She was thinking hard. She hated a lot of things, like when she owes Kakuzu money, she loses to Kisame, Tobi having a prank war with her, etc. "a lot of things." She answered. "My dream is to do something, and my hobbies are dangerous." Truthfully, she didn't really think far into the future about what her dream was, and it's true, her hobbies were dangerous. A sweat dropped from everyone's faces.

'She didn't tell us anything.' Thought Sasuke as he glanced at Sakura.

'Damnit, I don't know a thing about her.' Naruto cursed.

'Why...' Kakashi looked warily at Sakura.

Kakashi clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention. "Alright, tomorrow, is a special survival training. Your opponent is me, if you don't beat me, you're sent back to the academy." Kakashi said. His voice was calm.

"Eh!" Complained Naruto.

"Damn..." Muttered Sasuke.

Sakura however was yawning, she was so busy writing to Akatsuki, she barely got any sleep. Naruto and Sasuke were looking at her as if she was crazy.

'This girl,' Kakashi started to think, 'Why isn't she hesitating?'

"Tomorrow, you have to show your skills at the training ground. And don't eat, or else ya might throw up." Kakashi confirmed.

'I can't fail here, I'll need to show Kakashi my real strength.' Thought Naruto, he was shaking.

'I can't fail, I still need to complete my goal.' Thought Sasuke, a dark look showed on his face.

'I don't care if I fail.' Sakura started to think, 'But then again, my mom would probably force me to come back.' Sakura sighed, 'Might as well try to pass the first time.'

Kakashi was looking at Sakura, 'Seriously, what is with this girl? I know she's a transfer, but she's acting way too calm.'

'You're right, Kakashi.' A voice echoed in his mind.

Kakashi was startled, he looked around him, searching for the source.  
"Um, Kakashi sensei, you alright?" Asked Sakura, a look of worry was pasted on her face.

Kakashi took a long look at Sakura, she had the same voice as the one in his head, 'Could she...' Kakshi shook his head, 'No, an ordinary genin can't do something that advanced.' He smiled (Under his mask),

"It's nothing, anyway, see you guys tomorrow." He disappeared in a puff of smoke.


	6. Drawing Sasuke

Sakura got up to leave, map in hand. As she was walking, she didn't notice dropping her small black drawing book.

Naruto noticed and picked it up, "Wait!" Sakura disappeared without a trace. Sasuke was getting up to walk away before he saw the pictures Sakura drew.

Naruto was being a meddler and looking through the book, "Ooh, these are really good, huh?" Inside were handrawn pictures of all of Naruto's friends. Kiba, Hinata, Shino, etc. As Naruto flipped through the pages, he realized half of the book was blank.

Naruto's face brightened when he thought of an idea, "I should return this to her! Then she'll like me for sure." Naruto was snickering at the idea. However, Sasuke already grabbed the book, and walked away.

Naruto pointed at Sasuke and had a surprised/angry look on his face, "HEY! I WAS GOING TO BRING IT BACK TO HER!" Naruto started running after Sasuke.

Sakura was looking at her map, finding all the famous sites.

"Here." A voice behind him said.

She turned around to see Sasuke. Her pink hair flowed as she turned around, She saw that Sasuke was blushing.

"Um, is something wrong?" Sakura asked leaning in, so close to Sasuke's face there lips were only a few inches apart. "You look a bit, red."

Sasuke was blushing, He thrust out the book and turned to the side to avoid looking at her. "You dropped this." He was still blushing, his eyes closed.

Sakura looked down, "Oh, thanks." She took the book and smiled at him. Sasuke was blushing even more.

"Itachi, your brother should stop checking out Sakura!" Kisame whispered furiously.

Itachi and Kisame were spying over Sakura froma nearby bush.

Itachi looked at his little brother with an unknown expression, "I wish I could."

Sakura was smiling, she tried to hug Sasuke but Sasuke backed away and landed in a bucket. Sasuke was scrambling up and wiping the dust from his shorts. His face turned to the side and his eyes were closed. A pink color was flooding his cheeks.

"SASUKE KUN!" A blobby shape hurtled itself toward Sasuke. A blone girl was hugging Sasuke from behind him. "Sasuke kun! I've been looking for you! Why were you hiding" The girl was snuggling Sasuke. Sasuke looked extremely annoyed, he looked for Sakura. But she was already gone. Sasuke's vein popped.

"Sasuke kun, we should go on a date! Just the two-" Ino tried to say, but she was thrown off by Sasuke. Sasuke was running, trying to find Sakura.

Ino was stretching out her hand toward her crush, fake tears rolled down her eyes, "SASUKE KUN!" Her voice screamed through the crowd.

After about an hour of searching, Sasuke still couldn't find Sakura. He was walking back home, when was was home, a girl was sitting in front of his house. It was Sakura. Sasuke felt this warm and happy feeling in his chest. He walked over to Sakura, trying to act cool.

"Oh, Sasuke." Said Sakura.

Sasuke looked at Sakura, trying hard not to blush. "What are you doing in front of my house?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke, "I need to borrow your face, so hold still."

A sweat dropped from his face. 'Eh?' He thought.

A few minutes later, Sakura completed her drawing, "Done." She held the book out to Sasuke so he could see. It was an amazing drawing of Sasuke, it looked almost real.

"Alright, see you tomorrow." Sakura started walking away.

Sasuke recovered from his shock and was about to ask her to stay and eat. But she already left.

"Damn you Sasuke, TAKE THIS!" He punched a dummy with a badly drawn face of Sasuke. He kept punching the dummy, he even summoned some clones to help vent his anger.

Sakura was at home, writing to her mom and her brothers what happened today, using the special paper she received from her mom. All she had to do was write her message, and burn it. The smoke delivered the paper back to the hideout. So far, she's found a ton of secret tunnels inside the hokages stone heads, and mapped out the forests that surround Konoha. She's already spying on the guards rotation schedules, what time each building is closed, and when the hokage is out of his office

Sakura was petting her summoned cat, a gift from Pain to help keep her company. She named it Masaru. Oh yeah, the cat can talk.

"Is it dinner yet?" Asked Masaru.

"Oh, alright. I'll get you food." She stood up from her desk and walked to the kitchen. Masaru followed.

"You know what? I don't like this form." Masaru changed from a striped orange cat, to a white tiger. Masaru was able to change his form to any feline animal.

"Now, I'm need more food!" Masaru said gleefully.

Sakura took a giant bowl of cat food, she added chunks of meat for taste.

"Here you go." Sakura placed the giant bowl in front of Masaru.

As Masaru ate, she was writing on her desk. Every important detail that needed to be written.


	7. The Bells

_Next Day_

"He's late!" Complained Naruto. The three were waiting for Kakashi to arrive. Sasuke was leaning against a pole, Sakura was sitting on the grass, and Naruto was walking back and forth.

Naruto took a glance at Sakura the asked, "Sakura, can I call you, Sakura chan?"

Sakura smiled, "Sure."

Naruto was blushing and rubbing the back of his head.

Naruto glared at Sasuke, "Hey, teme. I'm going to kick your butt."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, "Whatever, dobe."

Naruto was steaming with anger.

"Yo!" Kakshi said as he waved his hand.

Naruto pointed at him, "You're late!"

He ignored Naruto and took out an alarm clock, he set it and took out two bells. Everyone was looking with a confused look.

"There are two bells, your task is to take them from me before the time's up. Those who don't have a bell by noon, don't get lunch. I'll tie the one without a bell to one of those stumps, and eat it right in front of you." Kakshi explained.

'I'm starving!' Naruto thought. Rubbing his rumbling belly.

'I need to get those bells.' Thought Sasuke, trying to work out a strategy.

'This is a test of teamwork.' Sakura glanced at the two thinking, 'Those two won't work together even if they were paid to.' Sakura sighed.

"The person who doesn't take a bell, gets sent back to the academy." Kakashi interrupted their thoughts. Kakshi registered Sasuke and Naruto's anxious faces. When he looked at Sakura, he was confused. 'How come she's not scared?' Kakashi thought. He continued, "Remember, you won't succeed if you don't come at me with killing intent. And...START!" The three immediately jumped toward the trees to hide. Kakashi took in their charkra pressures.

'Mm... Sasuke's in the tree at my 4'o clock, Naruto is at my 12, and Sakura,' Kakashi knit his eyebrows in concentration, 'Impossible, I don't sense her at all.'

"Hey old man!" Yelled a voice, Naruto was running toward Kakashi. A sweat drop from his face.

'Baka...' Thought Sasuke.

"Shinobi Fighting Lesson #1: Taijutsu" Kakashi said as he was retrieving something from his pouch. Naruto stopped running, he waited to see what he was going to pull out. Kakshi pulled out...Icha Icha Paradise. A sweat dropped from Sakura's face as she hid in the bushes.

"Eh?" Asked Naruto.

"I want to know what happens next," Explained Kakashi, "But it won't affect anything, so come at me."

Naruto took a second to register his words, then a vein popped, "OH YEAH!, TAKE THIS!" All of Naruto's hits were unsuccessful, they were either blocked or dodged. When Naruto finally came up with a brilliant plan, Kakshi used the body replacement technique. Soon, Naruto was fighting against his clones. Once he finally dispelled the jutsu, he was the only one left. And then, he fell into an obvious rope trap.

'Seriously?' Thought Sakura.

'Baka...' Thought Sasuke. He jumped out of his hiding place in order to find Kakashi. Sakura started jumping around, looking for Kakashi too.

After five minutes of searching, she found Sasuke, body underground with only his head on top.

'Should I free him?' Sakura thought. Looking at the struggling Sasuke from a tree branch. Then Sakura turned away, 'Nah.'

She finally landed in an empty meadow, "I'm not like them." She said out loud.

"Then prove it." Kakashi said, leaning on a tree reading his book. He was facing Sakura's back.

Holding the tiger hand seal, a swirl of leaves enveloped Sakura.

"That was too easy." Kakashi said, looking at an unconscious Sakura. He was about to move when a hand grabbed him from underneath.

'What?!' Kakashi asked, his eyes surprised.

Sakura was looking at a jounin buried in the ground, with only the head up. "I'm sure you know about the double suicide decapitation technique."

"Very clever, you used another genjutsu to counter mine. Making it seem you fainted, but you were underground this whole time." Kakashi explained.

Sakura smiled, "Yup."

Kakashi took a look at Sakura's face, 'Her smile, it's fake. But how can a genin be able to use an advanced move like this?' Kakashi sighed, "How are you supposed to get the bells then?"

Sakura recognized the problem, a sweat dropped from her face. "Oops." She unrolled a tiny scroll from her pouch, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" she placed her hand on the scroll and out came, a tiny dog wearing goggles. Sakura whispered something in the dog's ear, then it started digging on Kakashi's left side. Kakashi's sweat dropped.

"How can you read this?" Asked Sakura. She was flipping through Kakashi's copy of Icha Icha Paradise. Kakashi looked surprised that she had that.

"How did you get that!" He demanded.

Sakura looked at Kakashi, "I have fast hands."

Kakashi was looking at Sakura, then an embarrassed look was pasted on his face. "Can you, um, let me read?" He asked.

Sakura shrugged, she held the book in front of Kakashi and turned the pages whenever he said to. The dog was still digging. This was going to take a while.

"Come, on." Sasuke beckoned Naruto. Naruto escaped from his trap and helped free Sasuke. Naruto was panting from all the running.

"I, *Wheeze* need to... get into shape." He panted

Finally, the two found Kakashi sensei in the ground, having Sakura hold his book, and a dog digging on Kakshi's left side. A sweat dropped from their faces.

Kakshi spotted the two and slightly turned his head, "Oy! You two, get over here."Naruto and Sasuke were walking over, confused at the scene. They walked until they were in front of Kakashi.

"Sit." Ordered Kakashi. Sasuke sat on the left of Sakura, Naruto sat on the right. Sakura closed the book and placed it next to Kakashi's head. The dog was still digging deep down, dirt was being thrown out of the hole.

"Unfortunately for you two," he directed his attention at Sasuke and Naruto, "You two failed, miserably." Naruto and Sasuke were looking down at the ground.

"Sakura, please tell them the reason for this test." Kakashi looked at Sakura.

Sakura nodded, "It was about teamwork. The team should work together even if it meant the doom of a member."

"Exactly. Sakura immediately saw that you two would work together. So she decided to get the bells then decide who gets them. And since neither of you have bells, you fail." Kakashi said. Naruto and Sasuke had a scared look on their faces, "However," Kakashi's voice interrupted, "I'll give you two one last chance."

Their faces brightened, well, mostly Naruto's. Sasuke hid his emotion and grunted, "Hn." Finally the dog was done digging, and came out with a bell. Sakura patted the dog, then she, the dog, and Kakashi disappeared in white smoke.

Naruto was confused on what to do, "Wait, where are we supposed to go?"

Sasuke stood up, "The training grounds, dobe."

Sure enough, Kakashi, Sakura, and even the dog were there. Kakashi was reading a book while leaning on a stump and Sakura was sitting in the grass, petting the dog.

"Hey!" Naruto started to say, but in a flash, Kakashi was behind him in a trail of smoke. He pinned Naruto to the ground, tied him, then dragged him over to a stump. Naruto was struggling and yelling.

"WHY AM I TIED TO THE STUMP?!" He demanded. Sasuke walked over to get closer to the group.

"Because Sakura and I played rock paper scissors on who gets tied." Kakashi explained.

Sakura was rubbing her head, "Sorry, Naruto."

Kakashi brought out two bentos, he gave one to Sakura, and the other to Sasuke.

"You two are going to eat your lunches. When I get back, we'll have a second round. Naruto and Sasuke vs me." He looked at Sakura and Sasuke,"You will not give him any food. Or else, you're sent back to the academy." A demon look was on his face. He smiled, "I'm going to go somewhere for a bit."He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura and Sasuke started eating their food. Naruto was looking at them with puppy eyes. Fake tears were streaming down his face. Sakura sighed, she handed Naruto her bento.

"Eat." She said.

Naruto and Sasuke were surprised. "But, you'll have to go back to the acade-" Sakura stuffed food into his mouth before he could say anything.

"Just eat, you need your strength to defeat Kakashi." Replied Sakura as she continued stuffing Naruto's face.

Naruto was crying fake tears, he had teary eyes and a smile on his face, "Thank you, Sakura..."

Sasuke grunted, he thrust his food out to Naruto too. Soon, they were stuffing Naruto's mouth with food.

A great poof of smoke, Kakashi was leaning toward them with a murderous look, "YOU ALL..." Sasuke and Naruto had a surprise/scared look on their faces. Sakura had no expression, Kakashi smiled, "Pass."

Naruto's jaw dropped, Sasuke sighed, and Sakura kept petting her dog.

Kakashi surveyed the three, ' I understand there expressions,' looking at Naruto and Sasuke, 'But she didn't show one hint of emotion. Interesting...I'll have to keep an eye on her.'

Kakashi started going into detail on what a true shinobi is. When he said his friend died for the village, Sakura almost felt pity. Finally, it was the end of the day, the group was walking back home, and unfortunately forgot Naruto.

"WAIT, UNTIE ME!" He shouted.


	8. Upgrade The Mision

Few Days Later

"My little Tobu chan, I was so worried!" A fat lady was affectionally hugging her struggling cat.

'I can see why she ran away.' Sakura thought as she looked at the owner.

"I want a better mission!" Complained Naruto, he was rubbing his scratches, "A mission that's actually worth being called a shinobi!"

'I agree with him." Thought Sasuke. Sakura just sighed.

"Idiot, your only a rookie, you start from the bottom and work your way to the top!" Iruka stood up and slammed his hands on the table.

"But! We keep getting the crappiest jobs!" Complained Naruto, yelling with equal volume.

"Be quite you." He softly knocked Naruto's head. Naruto held his head, wincing.

The Hokage smiled, "Alright, if you want it that much, I'll give you a C- rank mission. It involves guarding a man back to his home." That got everyone's attention.

Naruto smiled in triumph, "Who's the client, a princess, a feudal lord?"

The Hokage chuckled, "He's coming right through that door." The door was creaking open as the three leaned in for a better look. It revealed, an old man with a beer bottle in one hand.

"What? This is my protection, two kids and short brat?" The man said.

Naruto was looking around, trying to see who was the shortest, when he realized he was the shortest, a vein popped. "I'll kill you!"

Fortunately, Kakashi was holding him back, "You can't kill the client."

"I am Tazuna, expert bridge builder. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge." Tazuna introduced himself.

In Akatsuki Hideout:

It was late night, Konan was waiting by the fireplace for a message from her daughter. Tobi, Deidara, and Hidan were waiting too.

"That's strange, she always writes before midnight." Said a suspicious Deidara. The clock read 12:23 a.m. Konan was sweating, she was extremely nervous to hear from her daughter. However, fatigue was getting to her.

"Look!" Pointed Tobi.

A piece of paper floated out of the flame, Tobi was the first one to grab it. He's reading the message and nodding at a few parts. When he was done, he started reading the letter backwards., taking up a lot of time. A vein popped on Konan's face.

"Give me the paper!" She screamed in Tobi's ear.

Tobi handed the piece of paper to Konan, then fainted. Nobody bothered to pick him up. The three crowded around the table, occasionally stepping on Tobi.

Konan's bottom lip was trembling, it said that her daughter was going on her first mission. Outside Konoha, to the Wave country. Konan's knees gave out, fortunately, Hidan and Deidara caught her and lead her to the couch. Tobi was still laying in front of the fireplace, he looked dead. Poor Tobi. Pain entered the room, wondering what the loud scream was. When Pain saw Konan on the couch, he immediately rushed toward her.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Konan explained, then fatigue finally got to her. She fainted. Pain directed Deidara and Hidan to take Konan to her room. Leaving Pain and Tobi in the room. The fire crackled during the night.

"Don't worry, this is a C-Rank mission. There won't be any fighting." He assured his group. The bridge builder had a guilty look on his face, a face Sakura and Sasuke noticed. The group were walking on the road, a puddle was on their left, some birds chirp-

'A puddle? Seriously, those ninja's need to use common sense. Why would there be a puddle when it hasn't rained in days?' Sakura thought. She sighed, 'What should I do? Counter them when they attack? Or wait for Kakashi to stop hiding in those bushes and protect the bridge builder.' Sakura knew that the sensei they were walking with was a clone. She could faintly feel Kakashi's chakra presence in the bushes nearby.

When they pass the puddle, Sakura felt a faint chakra pressure rise in the air. 'Eh, I'm bored.' The next thing that happened was a blur, two chunnin ninjas trapped Kakashi and split him into pieces. Sasuke took action while Naruto was cowering in fear. Sakura had to protect the bridge builder and act scared. When one of the assassins ran toward her, she raised her kunai, waiting. Right when the assassin was raising it's arm about to strike, a hand held it back. Kakashi caught the two and tied them together.

'Show off.' Thought Sasuke.

'Nice...' Sakura thought.

So, after a brief explanation, turns out the mission was upgraded to a B- rank mission, Naruto was scratched by the enemies poisonus claws, right when Kakashi was going to lead the team back to Konoha., Naruto bravely and foolishly stabbed his hand. Releasing the blood that contained the poison.

"I swear on this hand, I'll finish the mission, and bring the old man home." He grunted through the pain.

"Um, Naruto." Sakura interrupted, "You do know that if you don't stop the bleeding, you'll die."

Naruto's eyes grew wide. "AHHH! I can't die! Someone do something!" He started crying like a baby.

Kakashi checked the wound, 'It's already healing.'

'The nine tails must be healing him.' Sakura inspected.

"Um, Kakashi sensei?" Naruto looked at the expression on Kakashi's face and was scared.

Kakashi smiled, "Don't worry, we just need to bandage it, it'll be fine." And so, Team 7 disembarked on their mission.

Akatsuki Hideout:

"Kisame, do you know anyone in the Wave country?" Asked Pain.

Kisame thought hard, "Hmm, I do, a missing-nin. He's very famous for his killing sprees, he's Zabuza Momochi."

Pain recognized the name, "I want you and Itachi to make sure Sakura is safe. But the most important rule, is to keep out of others sight."

Kisame smirked, "I'm gonna need a boat."

* * *

**Team 7 meet Zabuza and Haku in the next chapter!**

**I was also feeling lazy while I was writing, which is why there isn't a whole lot of detail.**

**Sorry...**


	9. Zabuza Momochi

"There!" Naruto threw a shuriken into the bushes. He made a vow to prove himself, and that's what he was trying to do. Everybody leaned into the bush to see what it was. It was a snow rabbit, the shuriken just above its head. White foam was dropping from it's mouth, it died from shock.

Naruto was hugging the rabbit, "I'm sorry rabbit!" He cried fake tears.

'That's not right,' Sakura started thinking, 'Rabbit's furs usually change colors during change in seasons. This one wasn't raised in the wild very much. It's probably used," Her eyes widen as she realizes what's happening, 'For a body replacement technique.' Sakura slowly draws out a kunai and moves toward Tazuna, in a protective position.

'So she notices.' Thought Kakashi. He stands and takes in his surroundings. A swish of leaves shook Sakura and Kakashi's attention.

"Everyone, get down!" They both said. Sakura tackled Tazuna to the floor, the others follow suit. A huge kubikiribocho was flying overhead. Barely missing their heads. The sword latched itself into a tree nearby, standing on it was a eyebrowless man, stips of cloth covered his mouth.

Sakura got up, 'I sense another one behind us, he's not doing anything though. I'll wait.' Naruto was running toward the enemy, but Kakashi stopped him.

"I'm going to have to use it," He lifted the headband that was covering his left eye. Under it was a three tomoe sharingan. Sasuke and Sakura took a deep breath, taking in the sight. Naruto was clueless on what was happening.

'What's that eye?" Naruto thought. Everybody was muttering and whispering it's name, sharingan.

"Sharingan, Sharingan! What the hell is that?!" He demanded the others.

Sasuke was still looking at it while he was explaining, "Sharingan, it is said that some have the ability in their eyes to read and defeat all types of genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. The sharingan is one of the types of pupil that gives you this power. But that's not the only ability."

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

Zabuza was about to answer but Sakura beat him to it, "The user is able to copy your opponents techniques once you see them." Sasuke and Kakashi was looking at Sakura, wondering how she had this information.

Zabuza smirked, "When I was a member of the Hidden Mist's Assassination Team, I kept a handbook. It read, Copy Ninja Kakshi, the man who copied 1000 jutsu's."

'Wow...' Naruto had new found respect for his teacher now. Sasuke was eyeing Kakashi with confusion, wondering how he even received the sharingan, knowing that he wasn't part of the Uchiha clan.

"Enough talk," Zabuza said, "I have a job, to kill that old man." Zabuza looked at Tazuna.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were stepping forward. But Kakashi gave them new orders.

"You three are to protect Mr. Tazuna. Do not interfere with this fight," He glanced back at his student, "This will show real teamwork, understand?" The three nodded, backing up to extend the space between Zabuza and Kakashi. Finally, the battle began. Zabuza released his sword from the tree and was standing on the water.

"Ninpou Hidden Mist no Jutsu." A white mist enveloped Zabuza. He disappeared. The three were on their guards, waiting for any sign of him. Kakashi was looking around the empty air, hoping to use his sharingan to find out where Zabuza was.

'I can't believe I'm going to activate my sharingan/rinnegan' Thought Sakura she closed her eyes and concentrated, 'Unfortunately, desperate times call for desperate measures.' She felt her sharingan/rinnegan activate. Thankfully, her colored contacts hid the fact she was using dojutsu.

Naruto was shaking in fear, fortunately Kakashi's words soothed his mind, "Don't worry, I wont let my teamates die." He looked back and smiled.

Sakura was looking at the white fog, 'Where is he? I heard from Kisame that he was a master at silent killing, so-' Sakura suddenly felt a rush or powerful chakra. 'Behind!' She immediately turned around and stabbed the waiting Zabuza. Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi looked behind themselves and were shocked that Sakura found Zabuza so quickly.

Zabuza let out a scoff, "Impressive..." Water was leaking from the wound instead of blood. Sakura's eyes widened. She turned around to face Kakashi.

"BEHIND YOU SENSEI!" Sakura had time to yell before a sword was swinging itself toward Kakashi. The sword slashed Kakashi, but instead of blood, there was water.

'A-" Zabuza started to think.

'Water clone.' Sakura finished the thought. Sakura was looking around trying to find the real one.

"Don't move!" Yelled Kakashi, he held a kunai to Zabuza's neck. Sakura sighed and Naruto muttered, wow.

"Hehe, it's over?" Everyone's eyes widened when he said that, "There is no way you can beat me with your monkey like imitations."

Zabuza turned into water, another clone. The real one was behind Kakashi holding a kunai, "I'm not that easy." Zabuza withdrew his kunai and took out his sword. Kakashi just ducked as it sailed over his head. But Zabuza kicked Kakashi into the air. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura could do nothing except hold their kunai's up and hold their protective triangle formation. Zabuza tried running after his opponent, but was stopped by makibishi's that were sprinkled on the ground, stopping his movement. Kakashi took this opportunity and jumped into the water.

'Why's the water so heavy?' Kakashi wondered as he popped up from the water. When he realized it was a trap, it was too late.

"Heh, fool." Zabuza said as he appeared behind Kakashi. "Water Prison no Jutsu!"

'Damn!' Kakashi thought, water enveloped him and trapped him in a water sphere.

"Big mistake trying to run to the water." Zabuza said, his right hand holding the sphere together. "First, I'll take care of them." Zabuza summoned another water clone, the three backed up slowly.

'Should I use the universal push with my rinnegan? The only advantage I have is the element of surprise.' Sakura thought, knitting her eyebrows in concentration.

Zabuza chuckled at the sight of the headbands, "You call yourself a ninja? A ninja is someone who survived visits with death. You are not ninjas." His clone disappeared in the mist, Sakura jumped forward in front of Naruto. Holding the kick that was about to make contact with his face.

Naruto fell on his but, astonished, "Sakura chan?"

Sakura was concentrating with her strength on holding his foot, a shiny light shined in her eyes. She looked down and saw Naruto's headband under Zabuza's clones foot.

"Hyah!" The clone yelled as he swung down his sword.

"Sakura/Sakura chan!" Everyone yelled. Sakura could see the sword moving toward her in slow motion, she instinctively raised her free arm, a stupid move. She could fell the sword piercing her skin, the cold blood rushing down her arm. It was a good thing the sword stopped, or else Sakura's arm would have been chopped off. Sakura was struggling to hold on, sweat was gleaming down her face.

"Ha, you have spunk girl, I'll give you that." The real Zabuza said.

"LET GO OF SAKURA, YOU EYEBROWLESS FREAK!" Naruto yelled as he swung a kunai at the clones head. The clone easily evaded the attack by lowering his head, Naruto flew over. Sakura could see Naruto trembling on the ground.

"Take Tazuna and run! Zabuza can't move while he's holding me in the water prison. And the water clone can't go far from his body! You have no chance of beating him, so run!" Kakashi ordered.

Everyone's eyes widened, scared of what to do. Naruto was scrambling to get up when he felt a sudden jolt of pain on his left hand. When he saw his bandaged hand, he remembered his vow. And he was going to keep it.

'Universal push!' Sakura thought. The clone Zabuza had a surprised look on his face when he was flying backwards, back into the water. Everyone was surprised except Sakura. She picked up Naruto's headband, and walked over to hand it to him. Naruto looked up at the smiling Sakura, her left arm dripping with blood. Sweat was slowly moving down her face. She held out his headband.

Naruto looked at it and nodded, he took it and tied it on his forehead. "Hey you eyebrowless freak." A vein popped on the real Zabuza's head. "Put this in you hanbook., UZUMAKI NARUTO! THE MAN WHO WILL ONE DAY BECOME HOKAGE!" Everyone was filled with new hope, Sakura smiled. The only thing she regretted was not being able to flash a real one. "Sasuke, I have a plan." Naruto said, still looking at Zabuza. Sasuke smirked. Sakura sat down at the side, she was tired. But still fake smiling.

Kakashi's eyes widened, "What are you doing?! This fight was over the moment I was caught, get out of here and complete the mission!"

Naruto looked back at Tazuna, "Old man..."

Tazuna closed his eyes to think, "Well, I planted the seed. So," He grinned, "You brats fight as much as you want." The group grinned at the sign of approval.

Zabuza did something unexpected, he started laughing. "Going to keep playing ninja, huh? When I was your age, these hands," He looked down at his fist, "Were dyed with red blood."

"Devil Zabuza." A voice said. Everyone looked at Sakura, surprised.

Zabuza scoffed, "So, a brat like you knows about me."

Sakura ignored Zabuza, "In the Hidden Mist village, also called the Blood Mist village... There was a final obsatcle to become a ninja." She remember Kisame telling her.

"You know about the graduation exam." Zabuza said.

"What was it?" Naruto asked, scared.

Sakura answered, her face was unreadable, "Fights to the death between students." Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened. Kakashi looked down, thinking about the blood that was spilled.

"That's right," This time Zabuza was answering, "Friends who ate with each other during lunch, kids who shared dreams, were pitted against each other to death."

Everyone was sweating from the pressure, the thought scared all of them. Sakura just had her eyes closed, a blank face was all that showed.

"Ten years ago," Sakura continued, "The Hidden Mists graduation exams were forced to change. The change came after the previous year, when a devil arose." Sakura glared at Zabuza, "Without hesitation, the boy killed over a hundred of the students. And wasn't even a ninja."

Zabuza chuckled, "That sure was, fun." Naruto and Sasuke raised their guard when Zabuza looked at them. He looked at Sakura next, "How do you know about the graduation exams? They were hushed up and never spoken about."

Everyone was looking at Sakura, she was glaring at Zabuza, "I have my ways." Zabuza laughed out loud, it was cold and unfriendly.

"Sasuke, now!" Naruto yelled. He threw Sasuke a shadow windmill shuriken. Sasuke's eyes widened when he caught it, Sasuke spun in the air and landed on the ground. The shuriken was wide open, revealing it's four deadly blades.

"Evil Wind Shuriken, Shadow Windmill!" Sasuke announced. Sasuke threw the shuriken at Zabuza, he caught it in his free hand.

"Fools..." he muttered. But then he saw another shuriken thrown, it was hiding in the shadows of the first one. Zabuza jumped to avoid it, that's where the surprise came. The shuriken disappeared in white smoke, replaced by Naruto aiming a kunai. Zabuza and Kakashi's eyes widened.

"Take this!" Naruto threw the kunai at the arm holding Kakashi. It was flying toward Zabuza's left arm, Zabuza was forced to withdraw his arm. Releasing Kakashi from the water prison. Naruto was falling toward the water, Zabuza raised his arm threatening to strike Naruto with the shadow windmill.

'Damn, brat!" He cursed. Right when Zabuza was about to hit the falling Naruto, a bleeding hand stopped the giant shuriken. Kakashi was kneeling on the water, gasping for breath, using his left fist to stop the shuriken.

"Heh, I got distracted and released the jutsu." Zabuza defended himself.

"Wrong," Kakashi said, "You were forced to release the jutsu."

They jumped back to attack each other. Kakashi was copying Zabuza's every move from water dragon blast jutsu to sword strikes.

'Damn, my movements, he's completely-' Zabuza started thinking.

"Reading them?" Kakashi said out loud, finishing his thought. Zabuza's eyes widen, he placed his hands in tori form. Kakashi copied him.

'Damn! That-" Zabuza started to think.

"Freaking eye is pissing me off?" Kakashi finished his last sentence. A ninjutsu caught Zabuza, he was blasted by a powerful water explosion jutsu. Zabuza landed in a tree, tired and wet.

"How, can you see the future?" Zabuza looked up at the sitting Kakashi.

"Yeah," Kakashi lied, "And you're going to die."

* * *

**This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written. Big achievement! **

**Thank you for your support!**


	10. Defeated But Saved

Sakura felt the hidden chakra presence from before, behind her high up in a tree. The figure threw two needles, both landed in Zabuza's neck. He fell to the ground, unmoving. Everyone looked with shocked faces at the masked figure.

'From the pattern of that mask, it must be a hunter-nin.' Sakura thought.

The hunter-nin jumped down and introduced himself as a hunter-nin from the Hidden Mist.

"Thank you, I have been searching for this man for a long time." A polite voice said through the mask.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, 'From his voice and height, he's not that much older than Naruto.'

"Hunter-nin?" Asked Naruto.

When the boy was about to answer, Sakura answered instead. "Hunter-nins hunt down missing-nin." The boy looked down at Sakura, she was bandaging her arm wound with gauze.

"That is correct." Something was off about his voice.

Kakashi checked Zabuza's pulse, 'He's really dead.' The boy took the Zabuza's arm and wrapped it around his shoulder.

"Thank you, I'll be taking the bo-" The hunter-nin stopped talking when a kunai was flying toward him. The kunai pinned the hunter-nins sandals to to the ground, barely missing his toe. Everyone raised their heads to see who threw it, Sakura had her hand raised as she walked over.

"Sorry, my hand slipped." She gave a smile and kneeled down to pick the kunai up. When Sakura fingered the kunai, she glared at the hunter-nin, seeing through his disguise.

The boy felt a chill traveling down his spine, 'How?' Sakura gave an unconvincing smile and pulled the kunai out and stood up. She gave one last look then walked back to the group.

The boy recovered himself, "I must dispose of the body, farewell." he vanished in a gust of winds and leaves.

"HE'S GONE!" Shouted Naruto, pointing at blank space. Right after Naruto said that, Kakashi fainted on the ground.

'I over used my sharingan...' Thought Kakashi as he laid on the ground. Everyone was crowding around, trying to work out a plan to carry Kakashi.

Somewhere in the forest:

"Oh, look. The mist has cleared." Said the hunter-nin.

"Would you stop wearing that mask?" Asked a revived Zabuza, clearly annoyed.

The hunter-nin took off the mask, "Sorry it reminded me of the old days."

"When will I be able to move, Haku?" Asked Zabuza.

"You'll be able to move in a week at least." Answered a smiling Haku. He looked at two bloody needles sitting next to Zabuza. "Anyway, you should start recov-" Haku stopped, bringing out two needles and shooting them into the bushes. Zabuza just sat and watched. Out came two men in Akatsuki cloaks, one with shark like skin and face, the other had black hair and a konoha headband with a slash in the middle.

"Havn't seen you in a while, Zabuza." Said Kisame.

Zabuza smirked, "I was busy, Kisame," He looked at Haku, "You can lower your guard." Haku lowered his hand slowly, still unconvinced of the strange allies. Itachi held out his left hand, holding out the needles to Haku. Haku quickly grabbed them then retreated behind Zabuza. His careful eye inspecting the two.

Kisame laughed, "You have a good tool."

Zabuza stayed silent at this comment, his action wasn't recognized by Kisame.

"Anyway," Kisame set down his sword, Samehada, "I need you to do a favor for me."

"Are you all right, sensei?" Asked the bridge builders daughter, Tsunami.

Kakashi moaned, "Yeah, I'll be alright. Just need to take it easy for a week." Kakashi was laying in bed, extremely weak. 'I need to talk to Sakura later." He thought.

Sakura eyes brightened, "Oh, I think I know of a way to increase your healing process Kakashi sensei."

Kakashi's eyebrow's rose, "Really, what?"

"A flower," Sakura answered, "If you grind the flower and the powder in hot water, it should serve as a sufficient piece of medicine. And it grows right here, in the Wave country. It's called Chiyu."

"How do you know this?" Asked Kakashi, suspicious.

"I was in the library the night before we left, I was looking up first aid tips, in case we ran into trouble." Sakura lied. She actually learned it from her mom, who taught her which flowers are medicine and poisonous.

'An alibi, I was in the library all night, I never saw her.' Kakashi thought. "All right, I give you three permission to look for the flower." He smiled under his mask.

"What does the flower look like, Sakura chan?" The three were looking through the only meadow left in the entire forest.

"It's really colorful. Has a blue rim, the inside is orange, then the color shifts to pink and white." Sakura said as she looked through a bush of flowers. While Naruto was looking, he had a brilliant idea. He started gathering a bunch of random flowers, making them into a huge and rough looking bouquet. She poked Sakura on the shoulder to get her attention. When she turned around, Naruto thrust out the bouquet in her face, he was blushing.

"H-here, S-sakura chan..." He muttered. Sakura looked down at the bouquet and smiled, she took the bouquet in her hands.

"Thanks, Naruto kun." She said.

Naruto blushed even more, "You d-don't have t-to call me Naruto k-kun." He stuttered. He was walking back, trying to catch the wind on his burning face. But he stumbled on a log that appeared out of nowhere and fell on his but. Flowers were launched into the air, one landed on Naruto's head. Sakura smiled, if only she had her emotions. She would feel warm and happy.

Sasuke was looking at Naruto picking random flowers from nearby, 'What is he doing?' Sasuke thought. When he saw Naruto give Sakura the bouquet he made, and Sakura accepted it, Sasuke crushed the flower in his hands. He didn't notice the thorns piercing his skin and blood dripping from his palms.

"Ah, I'm tired." Yawned Naruto. The sun was starting to set on the horizon. Sasuke bumped Naruto, hard. Naruto fell to the ground, cursing.

"What the heck, teme?!" Naruto shouted as he scrambled up.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, he looked pretty mad. Sasuke started walking away, Naruto followed, shouting at Sasuke. Sakura volunteer to stay and look for the flower. Sakura got down on her knees, and went to work. Sakura kept searching and searching, desperate to find the flower.

"Crack..." A dead branch said. Sakura turned around, drawing a kunai. A murderous look on her face, when she turned around, she saw a boy. Although the boy had woman-like clothes and face, she could tell from his charkra presence, it was a boy.


	11. The Flower That Blooms

Sakura slightly lowered her knife, "Sorry."

The boy smiled, "No, it's alright. I would've done the same thing."

Sakura narrowed her eyes, "What are you here for?" Her kunai still poised to attack.

The boy smiled, "I'm here for a medical herb. It's a rather fantastic flower in my opinion," The boy rummaged in his basket for a piece of paper, "It looks like this." He unfolded a beautiful, colored drawing of the Chiyu flower. Sakura studied his face, he's not lying.

"All right," Sakura lowered her kunai, but kept it in her hand, "But I'm watching you."

The boy smiled, "I wouldn't have it any other way." He got down and started looking through the flowers too. It was quiet for the last few minutes. All that was heard was the wind and the rustling of grass. The moon and the stars were the only source of light.

"So," Sakura tried to start a conversation, "Who's the flower for?"

"My brother, he's temporarily immobilized for the next few days." The boy answered, he sounded like he was hesitating on how to answer.

Sakura nodded, "Same reason, different person. For my sensei."

"Ah," Haku said as he held out his hand, "I'm Haku."

Sakura shook the hand, "Sakura." The two smiled, the only real smile was Haku's. The two went back to searching. Before they knew it, they started conversations with each other. Even some personnel ones.

"My dad tried to kill me for having a kekkei genkei. He killed my mother, before he could kill me, I killed him." Haku's voice was unreadable. "My brother found me, and decided to take me under his wing. I owe my life to him." Sakura nodded, not even looking a bit uncomfortable.

'She's not like the others. I like her, I can actually talk with her without any uncomfortable tension.' Haku smiled as he thought this pleasant thought.

"What about your family?" Haku asked.

Sakura took a long time, thinking of what to say. "Well, I have a lot of brothers, uncles, and father figures in my family. My mom never bothered to tell me how my dad died. She kept me isolated at home, she didn't want to lose me like how she lost my dad. And, that's that." Sakura's eyes widen as she spot something shining at the bottom of a deep and tight hole. It was the flower.

"Haku! I found it!" Sakura shouted back, looking into the hole. Her body could fit inside, just maybe...

Haku was behind Sakura, leaning over to get a look, "How are we going to get it?"

"Hold my feet." Immediately answered Sakura, "I'm going to reach in and grab it, when I say so, I want you to pull me up, understand?"

Haku nodded, he agreed mostly because he was too big to fit in the hole. Haku grabbed Sakura's feet, and slowly lowered her into the hole. Sakura was squirming inside, trying to squeeze in. Pieces of dirt fell and landed on her head and back, Sakura kept on wiggling and finally reached the flower.

"Yes, Haku, can you lift me up now?" Sakura asked. Haku put all his strength into pulling Sakura out, slowly she was rising from the ground. When she felt her knees touch the ground, she used her leg strength to help lift up her arms and legs. Sakura started shaking some of the dirt off her hair. In her hand, was a Chiyu flower. A little bent from the ride it took. Sakura looked at the flower for a few seconds, then held it out to Haku.

"Here." She beckoned Haku to take it.

Haku's eyes were wide in surprise and confusion, "Why are you giving me this?"

"Because, you only have your brother, I have my friends and family to look after me. And besides, you would have fought have me for it." Sakura smiled.

Haku giggled, "True," Haku took the flower, "Thank you."

Sakura was walking back to the house, a few feet away there was a stump, on the stump was Sasuke.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, walking toward him.

Sasuke was about to answer, but when he saw how dirty Sakura was, he immediately stood up and walked over to her, checking for any wounds. "How-" Sasuke started to ask.

"I was digging in the dirt, hoping to find the flower." Sakura answered. She swore Haku not to tell anyone she met him.

"Baka..." Muttered Sasuke, he dragged Sakura until they were at the river where Tazuna's house lay on top of a wooden harbor. Sasuke pulled Sakura to the ground, he plunged his hand into the water and cupped a small amount. His other hand, holding on to Sakura shoulder. The cupped hand brought the water to Sakura's face, he started rubbing away some of the dirt. Sakura had her eyes closed to help keep out the water and dirt. Sakura felt the cold water rub against her face, first her cheek, then her forehead, then near her eyes. Sakura's eyes flew open.

'If Sasuke feels the colored lenses, I'm finished!' She thought. Sakura pushed herself away from Sasuke, trying to find something to dry her face with. Sasuke rummaged in his pocket, and pulled out a handmade handkerchief, he handed it to Sakura.

'Here.' He handed it to Sakura. Sakura gladly took it and gently wiped her face with it. The moon's reflection shined on the water. When Sakura was wiping her eyelids, she felt a hand hold her hands down. Her eyes were covered.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Asked Sakura. There was silence, Sasuke was looking intently at Sakura. Then lowered his hand.

"Nothing." He answered, he looked to the side, avoiding looking at her face. Sakura lowered the handkerchief and handed it to Sasuke.

"Thanks." She smiled. Even though her clothes and hair were dirty, Sasuke felt a thump in his heart. Sakura stood up and walked to the house, going to change clothes.

When she left, Sasuke put a hand to his eyes. Covering his eyesight, he clutched the handkerchief in his left hand. "Damn."

In the bushes:

"Itachi, Konan will murder you if she finds out your little brother likes her daughter." Said Kisame while watching the pained Sasuke sitting on the harbor.

"Which is why she wont find out." Itachi's eyes inspected his lovesick brother.

Kisame looked at Itachi, "You do know that if she does find out, she'll literally kill you."

"I know." Itachi said. Kisami smirked.


	12. How To Climb A Tree

Next Day:

"All right, I'm going to start training you guys, how to properly use chakra." Kakashi said. He was being supported by two long sticks that were a substitute for crutches. "By tree climbing."

'Tree climbing?' Naruto thought, a clueless face was stuck on his. Sasuke stayed silent.

'Oh dear.' Sakura thought. She remembered when Tobi taught her tree climbing and water walking when she was three. When he taught her tree climbing, he would always create a clone to try and scare Sakura off the tree. She had nightmares about flying monkeys every night. Konan beat the hell out of Tobi when she found out about his teaching ways.

"You get all that you guys?" Kakashi asked. He just finished explaining the purpose for this exercise. Everyone nodded, we knew the objective was to obtain the right amount of chakra in your feet. Too much will crack the wood, too little and you won't stick. Kakashi took out three kunais and throwed them at their feet. "When you can't go anymore, mark where you left off. And try to work your way from there." Kakashi explained. "All right, ready..." Kakashi paused so that everyone could grab a kunai and line up at a tree, "Start!" Kakashi yelled Sasuke and Naruto were bolting up the trees. Sasuke made it up a couple of feet before the wood underneath him cracked. He cursed and marked his spot. Naruto fell when he walked up a couple of inches. Sakura however was not finding any difficulty with this assignment. Zetsu always helped Sakura with chakra control. Sasuke and Naruto were looking at her, shocked. Kakashi however expected this, seeing as how she's able to use ninjutsu perfectly without wasting a drop of chakra. Sasuke and Naruto immediately scrambled back up the tree, trying to catch up with Sakura. After a couple of minutes, Sakura walked all the way to the top, not even sweating. She looked down at the two boys training.

"SHOULD I COME DOWN?" Yelled Sakura. Sakura leaned over and heard a faint, yes. She started walking back down, secretly hoping for no surprise visits from Tobi imitating a monkey.

After what seemed like hours, Sasuke was halfway up his tree. Naruto was catching up. Sakura and Kakashi were sitting beside a tree, waiting patiently.

"Sakura, why don't you go and protect Tazuna? I'll wait here for a bit then return to the house." Kakashi suggested.

"Yes, sensei." She agreed. Sakura got up, dusted the dirt off her shorts, and walked back.

Later during the day:

"Sorry to call you out suddenly Sakura." Apologized Tazuna.

"It's nothing, Tazuna sama." Sakura said politely, she carried a bag to help carry the groceries.

"Geez, calling me, 'sama'." Tazuna blushed. When they walked inside the store, Sakura was surprised. Everything was scarce, and most of the stuff was old.

"Hm, let me see, need..." He started picking stuff from the rack and putting it in Sakura's bag. The clerk was watching carefully, suddenly, Sakura felt this chill go through her spine. She flashed out a kunai and pointed it at a thief.

"Don't even think about it." Sakura said, an evil presence burned behind her. A sweat dropped from the man's face, he scrambled away and out of the store.

"Alright... I think that's all" Tazuna turned around, not noticing what happened. The two left the store after paying for everything. While they were walking, Sakura felt a tap on her leg. She looked around and saw a hungry and dirty kid.

He looked up with pleading eyes Sakura sighed, she brought something from her pouch and pulled out two pieces of candy. When she handed it to kid, his eyes brightened, "Arigato." He ran into the crowd, holding his candy like treasure.

"This is why we need this bridge,"Tazuna said as he looked at the crowd, "The people need hope, and that bridge will be our symbol of hope."

It was late night, Sasuke and Naruto were eating quickly at the table so that they can go back and train.

"More!" They shouted at the same time, raising their bowls. Suddenly, they felt sick, and went outside to throw up.

"Geez..." Muttered Kakashi. Sakura was looking around and noticed a torn photo.

"Why's that torn? Asked Sakura, she noticed the room got cold all of a sudden.

(Okay, long story short, the man in the picture was Tsunami's husband and Inari's father. He was named hero of the village but was killed by Gato.)

When Naruto came in he was clutching his stomach looking sick, "I need more food, I'm out of chakra."  
"Why do you bother training?" Asked Inari.

"Huh?" Asked Naruto.

"Why do you bother training, you're still no match for Gato's men, no matter what claims you make or how hard you work. When you're facing a strong enemy, you'll only get killed!" Inari exploded. Tazuna, Tsunami, and Kakashi looked shocked.

"And?" Naruto asked, his voice clearly said he was bored.

"Why the hell do you try hard! I'm different from you three, you three are care free, you have no idea what it like to lose someone close to you, you don't know how hard life is." Inair yelled.

"Inari!" Tsunami was shocked at her son's words.

"Listen kid, do you think your life is the only one that's difficult?" Asked Sakura, Naruto was looking at her surprised, "You think we don't know what it feels like to lose someone. Do you have any idea how hard a ninja has to work, their village depends on them to keep others safe, you have to sacrifice your life for others. No, you don't because you've been busy crying and not even trying to do something about it, if you think that our life is easy, try stepping into our shoes and see who's life is hardest." Silence hung after Sakura said those words. Inari stood up and walked out of the kitchen. Kakashi followed after him, Sakura went outside to check on Sasuke, and Naruto went back to the forest to train.

Outside, Sakura could see Sasuke on his knees, trying to get rid of the burning feeling in his stomach. Sakura kneeled to rub his back.

"You all right?" She asked. Sasuke kept his head down, keeping silent. Sakura took a long look at Sasuke.

"You know, you remind me of someone I knew when I was a kid." Sakura said. Sasuke was still silent.


	13. Remember Me

Memory: "Sakura, I need you to stay with Tobi while I'm gone. Alright?"Konan asked a four year old Sakura.

"Okay, mom." Sakura replied.

Konan glared at Tobi, "If anything happens to her, I'll kill you."

Tobi nodded, "Yes! Konan sama!" Tobi mocked a salute. Konan gave one last glare at Tobi, then separated into little pieces of paper and flew away. Tobi leaned down to look at Sakura.

"What'cha want to do until mom gets back?" Tobi asked.

Sakura took a long time to decide, she smiled, "Let's play hide the ninja!"

Tobi nodded, "Alright! You hide, and I'll hunt you down, remember to stay in the area!" Tobi yelled as Sakura started running off. After 23 minutes of searching, Tobi still couldn't find her. He looked in trees, underwater, in animal caves. He still couldn't find her.

"Tobi!" Sasori was running toward him.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Tobi yelled, trying to defend himself.

Sasori gave him a confused look, "What are you talking about, anyway shut up and listen. There are a ton of grass nin in the area. We need to take Sakura and get out of here. Where is she?"

"Uhhhh..." Tobi said, unsure what to say.

Sasori had a haunted look on his face, "Please tell me you weren't playing hide the ninja, and let Sakura chan out into the woods, alone right?" He asked.

"Uhhhh.,.." Tobi said. But his uhhhh already answered the question.

"Hey, what's the holdup?" Asked an approaching Deidara and Hidan.

"Tobi lost Sakura in the woods." Sasori answered, his hand on his forehead as if he was trying to recover from a headache.

Akatsuki's combined voices hollered through the forest, "YOU IDIOT!" Soon, Akatsuki was on the search. Hoping to find Sakura before the grass nin and Konan found out. Technically, they were scared of Konan rather than the grass nin.

"Wait a minute!" Ordered Tobi. Everyone stopped dead. Tobi looked at the group, "Isn't there a village nearby?"

Orochimaru answered, "Yes, the Uchiha Clan. Just over the hills." He pointed north.

"Okay, what if one of us, disguised as worried family members, asked the Uchiha Clan to help search?" Tobi suggested. Everyone stared at Tobi, a look of shock showed on their faces.

"Tobi, that's a brilliant idea." Replied Hidan. Somewhere in the woods, little Sakura was running, trying to find a good hiding place to hide in. She didn't notice that she actually ran quite a distance. She ran all the way to a hill, overlooking the Uchiha Clan's base.

"Wow..." She sighed, she started scrambling down the hill, toward the village. She was at the entrance, bundles of people were walking on the roads, talking and laughing with others. She slowly started walking through the village, dazzled by the sight she was seeing. She was never allowed out without a grown up. Even when she was allowed out, she had to stay within the Akatsuki's reach, meaning no socializing with other kids and people.

"Come on you guys!" A group of kids were running, the one at front bumped Sakura to the ground.

He stopped, the others kept on running until one kids asked, "Sasuke, you coming?"

The boy called Sasuke looked back at the others and waved his hand, "I'll play later."

The boy shrugged, "Suit yourself," He turned around to lead the others, "Come on you guys!" The group ran off, to the fields to play.

Sasuke held out his hand to the girl, "You alright?" He asked. Sakura took the hand and wiped off the dirt on her shorts.

"Thank you." Sakura whispered. Sasuke liked this girl, at least she didn't act like all those annoying fan girls that follow him home.

"I'm Sasuke, who are you?" Sasuke asked, smiling.

"I'm Sakura." whispered Sakura, red blush showed on her face. Sasuke was blushing also, rubbing his hand on the back of his head.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Asked a disguised Sasori.

"Definitely, now hurry up!" Barked Deidara. The plan was to use a woman puppet that Sasori created and have him control it from a short distance away, Deidara would act as the husband. The two were going to ask for a meeting with the Uchiha police, and have them help find Sakura. Sasori was speaking to Deidara with a walkie talkie they bought from a nearby store, Sasori would use the chakra strings to project Sasori's disguised voice from the mouth. Deidara was walking hand in hand with the puppet, Sasori was following from the roof top, using a camouflage jutsu he learned from Pain.

"You sure that jutsu will work." Asked Deidara, keeping the walkie talkie hidden underneath his fake clothing (Shirt and shorts).

"Positive. I'm blending into the environment right now as we speak." Sasori answered. Contolling the charkra stings while leaping from roof to roof.

"This better work..." Deidara muttered as he walked with the puppet to the police station. The bell rung as they entered, a bead of sweat slid down Deidara's face. They made it to the front desk, Sasori was behind them, hiding under a desk.

"Excuse me?" Deidara tried to get the attention of a shinobi sitting behind a desk. He looked up and glared at Deidara and the puppet, studying the two.

"How may I help you?" He asked. Deidara tried to speak, but every time he opened his mouth, no words came out. He was too nervous to make a sound, Sasori rolled his eyes and started to control his puppet.

"I'm sorry for my husband's behavior, it's just," Sasori made the puppet pull a sad face, "It's just, our child is missing, or kidnapped!" The puppet started fake crying into Deidara's shoulders.

The Uchiha shinobi straightened his back full attention on the two, "Alright, calm down. First, where are you two from?" He pulled out a piece of paper and pencil.

Sasori and Deidara's eyes widened, Deidara was the one to answer, "Um, we're from..."

Sasori turned the puppet to face the man behind the desk, "Konoha!"

The man nodded, "Konoha... Okay, describe the child." His hand ready to write.

"Um, it's our daughter, Sakura um..." Sasori was thinking of a name to use, "Haruno. She has long pink hair, emerald eyes, and a red ribbon tied in her hair."

"All right, what time did she disappear?" The man writing asked.

"Um," Deidara was thinking, "Maybe, an hour ago? We lost her in the forest nearby."

The man's eyes widened, "You do know that some grass nin are currently in the area, right?"

"Tell that to the babysitter..." Muttered Deidara.

The shinobi then picked up his walkie talkie and started talking into it, "We have a F-17 taking place, find a girl with pink hair, emerald eyes, and a red bow. I repeat, we have a E-17!"

"Um, what was that?" Asked Deidara.

The shinobi looked at Deidara, "F-17 means F.C.I, Find Child Immediately. If the enemy uses the child as a bargaining chip, that would mean many secrets will be revealed. You can stay here and wait if you want." Deidara exited with the puppet, Sasori exiting through the window.

"Stay here my ass..." Deidara muttered. He looked at Sasori, "Call the other Akatsuki members, we have the Uchiha clan helping in the search." Sasori nodded, he took his puppet from Deidara, and left to go warn the others.

"So, where you from?" Sasuke asked as he walked Sakura through the village.

"Um," Sakura was hesitating on what to say, "Konoha."

Sasuke's eyes brightened, "Konoha? What's it like there?"

"Um," Sakura didn't actually know anything about Konoha, "It's big." Sasuke had a confused look on his face, Sakura changed the subject when she spotted a bakery.

"Ooh! What's that?" She asked while pointing at a bakery.

Sasuke smiled, "It's a bakery, I come here almost every day for a snack, come on!" Sasuke took Sakura's hand to run to the bakery. Sakura sighed in relief while they were running. Sasuke entered the shop and smiled at the old woman who owned the shop.

"Obachan!" Sasuke yelled as he and Sakura entered the bakery. The old woman turned around and smiled at Sasuke.

"Oh, Sasuke, want to try some custard filled bread? I have a new filling for you to try." The old woman held out a pastry with delicious snow white cream. She noticed Sakura hiding behind Sasuke, "Oh, and who's this?" She smiled kindly at the shy Sakura.

Sasuke looked behind him and smiled, "This is Sakura chan, She's visiting from Konoha." Sasuke held Sakura hand as he introduced Sakura to the old lady. "Sakura chan, this is my Obachan, I come here everyday after school to try Obachan's amazing bread."

"Oh, Sasuke," The old woman smiled appreciatively, "Tell you what, why don't you and your friend take some bread and eat it on the hill. You can watch the clouds and sun. Here." She handed each of them a pastry wrapped in plastic.

"Arigato!" Both of them said, with smiles on their faces. While the two were turning to leave Obachan said one last thing.

"Oh Sasuke!" Obachan called, the two turned around, "Show your girlfriend a good time." She smiled.

Sasuke and Sakura blushed, "She's not my girlfriend Obachan!" Sasuke said before leaving the shop with Sakura.

"She could be..." Obachan muttered, smiling. While heading toward the hills, Sasuke pointed out everything great about the Uchiha Clan's home. Sakura kept on gasping and smiling as she and Sasuke walked through the village. The two still holding hands as they walked through the village. The two just finished talking about their families.

"Wow... You have a lot of brothers, uncles, and father figures." Said Sasuke, amazed. Sakura just finished talking about her family. "I only have one brother, but he's enough fro me." Sasuke said, his voice full of pride. Finally, they reached the hills. The sun was just about to set. Sasuke and Sakura sat on top of the highest hill, the grass blowing around their sides and eating the bread they were given. Finally, the sun set, the stars started to shine in the sky.

"It was so pretty..." Sighed Sakura, she started looking around at the different constellations shining in the sky. Sasuke was staring at Sakura, a dreamy look on his face.

"Sakura chan," Sakura turned to look at Sasuke, the stars were the only source of light, "I-"

"Ah, that's sweet." A voice giggled. The two looked behind them and saw two heavily armed, masked, and dangerous looking ninjas.

"What should we do? Kill them, or torture them to death?" Asked the ninja on the left, holding a sharp looking knife. Sasuke and Sakura stood up, and started to back away slowly. The ninja's followed.

"You know, it's a shame to kill two kids. Oh well, that's life." The one on the right said, pulling out a couple of senbon, threatening to throw. The two chuckled evilly and walked toward the two. Sasuke grabbed Sakura's hand, and ran down the hill.

"Ooh. I like it when the prey gives a chase." One of the ninja said. The two started chasing after the two. Sasuke and Sakura were panting hard, desperate to get away. The darkness hid the path.

"Got 'cha." A ninja used the senbons in his hand and threw them at Sasuke. One managed to hit Sasuke in the shoulder and leg, he fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding shoulder. Sakura kneeled down to check his wounds.

"SASUKE KUN!" Sakura cried.

Sasuke was gritting his teeth, trying to keep in the pain, "Sakura chan, run!" Sakura was shaking her head, tears were dripping down her eyes.

"This is so sweet." One of the ninja said, looking at the two. He held up his kunai, "I'll make this quick."

Sakura tears rolled down to the ground, "PAIN!" She yelled into the darkness. The two grass nin smirked, they lifted their weapons to kill, but suddenly, they stopped. Weapons in midair, a hurt expression was pasted on their faces, they crumbled to the ground. Behind them was Pain, using his rinnegan. Sakura had a surprised look on her face, Sasuke was looking surprised too, but was too busy fighting the pain to care.

"Pain sensei..." She cried, she was still leaning over the bleeding Sasuke. Pain looked at the bleeding Sasuke, then reached inside his cloak to retrieve a bottle of healing water. He tossed the bottle to Sakura.

"Make it quick." Was the only thing he said before disappearing in white smoke. Sakura looked at the bottle then kneeled down to Sasuke.

"Sasuke kun, you need to drink this." She uncorked the bottle and held it to Sasuke's mouth. However, the first drop caused Sasuke to cough up blood. You see, the healing water was powerful, in fact, too powerful. The body will try to reject the water, but Sakura knew that she had to get Sasuke to drink it before others arrived. So, she did something drastic. She forced the water inside her mouth, she started to gag, her body was trying to reject the water. She quickly forced her lips onto Sasuke's, He tried to push her away, but she kept a tight grip on his undamaged shoulder. She waited until Sasuke stopped struggling, then pulled away. She quickly took out the senbons, then stared at the unconscious Sasuke. "Drip..." whispered a drop of blood as it fell to the grass. She used her fingers to feel her face, then felt her lip bleeding. She checked Sasuke's, and saw a cut on his lips too. 'Whoops..." She thought, she pushed too hard.

"Ugh..." Groaned Sasuke, he was starting to gain consciousness. Sakura stood up to leave, but turned around and untied her ribbon. She kneeled and tied it on Sasuke's wrist. She had to leave before Sasuke woke up or else he would ask questions, and that would lead to the revealing of Akatsuki. Just as she tied the ribbon on, she heard footsteps, no doubt guards were coming over to check what happened. Sakura disappeared in white smoke, landing just at the edge of the woods, at least ten feet away from Sasuke.

"Hey! It's the master's son! Hurry and get a medic!" Shouted one guard. Saskue slowly opened his eyes, his eyes widened when he realized where he was.

"Sakura chan!" Sasuke stood up, looking around, "Sakura chan!"

"Sasuke, calm down!" The guard tried to stop him.

Sasuke whirled around, "There was a girl with me! She might've been kidnapped by the weird guy in a black cloak" Soon, Sasuke was escorted back to the village. The guards placed on high alert for any suspicious characters. A search team was sent out to find Sakura, Sasuke was sitting in his room, waiting for answers. He was staring down at the floor, he examined Sakura's ribbon that was tied on his wrist, then felt the cut on his lip, nearly healed. "Sakura..." He muttered.

"I don't know if the boy remembers me, it was a long time ago." Sakura said. Sasuke still had his head near the ground, not wanting to look up. The memory that played in Sakura's head went exactly like that, except the boy's head was blurred out and every time she tried to remember the name, all she got was a blank. "Then again, he's probably dead. After the massacre in the Uchiha clan..." her voice drifted off, she didn't need to finish. Sasuke suddenly jumped up, and walked into the forest wanting to train. Sakura didn't stop him, instead she looked at the sky, hoping to see the moon smile at her. While in the forest, Sasuke kept running and running, until finally he stopped. He reached into his short's pocket and pulled out an old, slightly torn red ribbon. He looked at it for a while, hoping for Sakura to remember the boy with her, was him.


	14. Lies

After a few days, Kakashi was able to walk, as he and Sakura walked through the forest, to check on Naruto and Sasuke's training, Kakashi finally asked the question.

"Who are you?" He asked while the two were walking.

Sakura looked at Kakashi, "What are you talking about?"

Kakashi looked back at Sakura, "Don't act dumb. The training, Zabuza attacking us. You're not an ordinary genin."

Sakura hesitated, the came up with an excuse, "Alright, you caught me. My mom and dad lived a nice, quiet life. Until some gangs attacked the town where my family lived, my dad died in order to protect my family. After that, my mom, brothers, uncles, and father figures started training me. I learned ordinary genin training when I was...five." Another lie, "My family kept training me, now, I'm stronger than a jounin. If only my father was alive..." She drifted off.

Kakashi nodded, "Alright, I understand."

'Fool.' Sakura bitterly thought.

"But," Sakura's back straightened, "How were you able to push Zabuza's water clone when you didn't even touch him?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura was thinking of a quick excuse, then sighed. "It's a special ability I inherited from my dad, I can push and pull any object that I see. It's a special kekkei genkai."

Kakashi studied Sakura, then decided to believe her. "Alright, just wanted to clear that with you." On the inside, Sakura was celebrating. One the outside, she sighed. When the two finally reached Naruto and Sasuke's training area, they were surprised. Naruto and Sasuke were sitting at the bottom of their trees, the kunai's reached all they way to the top, they completed their training. The two were smirking as sweat was sliding down their faces.

"Hey guys." Greeted Naruto.

Gato's Headquarters:

Zabuza was inside his room, testing out his healed body. Swinging his sword left and right, Haku was sitting in the corner, observing.

"When should we attack?" Haku politely asked.

Zabuza kept swinging, finally he answered the question, "Tomorrow, at the bridge. But," Zabuza looked at Haku, "Make sure to not kill the Sakura girl. Or else Akatsuki will be on our necks."

Haku nodded, "Understood."

Team 7 was walking toward the bridge with Tazuna, Naruto was left behind and was going to catch up later(During this time, Naruto beats up the ninja's that are sent to capture Tsunami, causing his late entrance.) When they made it to the bridge, what they saw horrified them. All the workers laid on the ground, dead. Everyone was going from body to body, checking to see if there was a survivor left. When Sakura checked one, he was still alive.

"Demon...Run..." Those were his last words as he drifted off to darkness. Suddenly, a white mist enveloped the bridge, the water was barely visible, Sakura backed away into Sasuke. She turned around, her heart pounding, Sasuke pointed a kunai at her neck, mistaking her for the enemy.

He sighed and lowered his kunai, "Sorry." He muttered. Finally the mist cleared, revealing Haku and Zabuza standing side by side, Kakashi and Tazuna was behind Sasuke and Sakura.

Out of nowhere, Zabuza appeared in front of Sakura and Sasuke, "Let's get rid of you two first."

"Sakura, Sasuke!" Kakashi warned.

Sakura could see everything happen in slow motion, Zabuza's sword was coming at Sakura in slow motion, she pulled out her retractable sword, Yuzuki, from her pouch, and forced to grow until it was five feet long. She used Yuzuki to block the sword strike, now Sakura was using all her strength to hold back Zabuza's sword. Her arms were shaking as she put some strength into her sword. She could use her real strength, but she doesn't want to waste her energy. Who knew what tricks Zabuza and Haku had up their sleeves. Sasuke jumped back, unsure what to do. Sakura jumped back, away from Zabuza's sword.

"Haku, you take on the brats, I'll settle some unfinished business." Kisame glared at Kakashi. Haku nodded, and ran toward Sakura and Sasuke. His speed was incredible, Sakura and Sasuke barely managed to avoid Haku. The two jumped to the side as Haku zoomed past.

'Damn, I'll have to do this.' Sakura thought. She closed her eyes and activated her rinnegan/sharingan under her contact lenses.

'His speed, it's fast, but not that fast.' Sasuke ran after Haku, matching his speed. Zabuza and Kakashi were watching while battling. Sakura ran after Sasuke, catching up to him quickly.

'I'm so happy that mom forced me to wear a meat suit and be chased by dogs. And all the other painful training techniques I had to endure. When I go home, the first thing I'm going to do is hug her.' Sakura thought gratefully.

'Sakura's amazing, she easily caught up to me at full speed.' Haku thought. Sakura, Sasuke, and Haku kept running, except they weren't attacking, it was like the three of them were having a race. Sakura ran ahead the two, and stopped in front of Haku, causing him to stop running, and slide on the water wrapping the bridge, and crash to the ground. Everyone's eyes widened.

'Whoa.' Thought Sasuke.

"Don't underestimate my team by calling them brats. Sasuke is the Leaf village's #1 rookie, Sakura is the...brightest," Kakashi didn't know how to describe Sakura, "And the other one is...The show-off, hyper-active, #1 loudest ninja in the village."

Zabuza looked at Haku, "It seems you need to even the field."

Haku instantly got up, kunai up. Sakura raised Yuzuki, and Sasuke pulled out a kunai. The two launched themselves at Haku, the one to make the first strike was Sakura. Sakura slashed Yuzuki through the air, Haku raised his kunai to block the sword. Sasuke jumped into the air, and also forced his kunai onto Haku's kunai. The two were joining strength, to try and overpower Haku. They were succeeding, Haku was having a hard time hold his kunai up. He dropped his left hand, and in a blur, created hand signs one handed.

'How?!' Sasuke questioned in his mind.

'Impossible, you can't make hand signs one handed.' Kakashi thought, stunned. Zabuza smirked. Suddenly, the water that layed on the bridge started rising, before Sakura and Sasuke could escape the trap they fell in, it was too late.


	15. Battle On The Bridge

"Hiijutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors'" Haku said before merging with the ice mirrors that surrounded Sakura and Sasuke. All around them were mirrors with Haku copies, and one of them was the real one. Sasuke looked around, shocked. Sakura however was no her knees, busy studying the mirrors.

'This will be useful later...' Sakura thought.'

Haku was looking at the two, "I don't want to kill you." He said.

Sakura looked at Haku, no expression showed in her eyes, "I don't mind dying, but..." Sakura stood up, "I want to know how my life plays out." She flashed a fake smile.

'What?' Haku thought, confused. He dismissed the thought, he drew out senbons, and threw them at Sakura and Sasuke, Sasuke tried to dodge but got hit a few times.

'Ah man, I'm going to look like a porcupine.' Sakura thought before preparing to receive the senbons. The senbons pierced her skin, Sakura helped control the pain, like Hidan taught her. Out of nowhere, a shuriken flew from the outside and almost landed on one of the mirrors, Haku caught it before it could damage his trap.

'Show off.' Thought Sasuke, his wounds were slightly bleading. Scratches were revealed everywhere.

'Hyper active, #1 loudest ninja?' Haku thought.

In a dramatic poof of smoke, there was Naruto, prepared to fight. "I'm," Naurto pointed at Haku, "Gonna kick your ass!"

'Baka! What's with the loud entrance? And he calls himself a ninja.' Kakashi thought.

"Ugh..." Sakura muttered as she slapped the palm of her hand to her face. Sasuke looked embarrassed, Haku remained silent.

'Bah, that brat...' He muttered in his mind.

Naruto brought out a huge handful of smoke bombs, and threw them to the ground. Creating white smoke the enveloped everybody.

'Wow. Naruto's actually thinking, now he can attack from the outside where Haku's vulnerable, using the smoke as-' Sakura started to think with pride.

"Oy, Sakura, Sasuke." A voice whispered and poked her arm.

'Please don't tell me.' Sasuke and Sakura thought at the same time, they turned around to the direction of the voice. The smoke cleared to reveal, Naruto. He used the smoke to sneak in to the trap.

Naruto was there, kneeling, "I came to save you two." he whispered. A vein popped on Sasuke's face. Sakura's left eye was twitching.

"YOU MORON! IF YOU'RE A SHINOBI THEN USE YOUR HEAD! WHY DID YOU COME INSIDE THE MIRRORS?! DAMN IT! I DON'T CARE ANY MORE! YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" Sasuke shouted in his face.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! I COME TO SAVE YOU AND THIS IS WHAT I GET?!" Naruto yelled back with equal volume. The two kept arguing for a while.

A sweat slid down Kakashi's face, "Naruto..." He muttered. Now his whole team was stuck in Haku's trap, he couldn't leave to rescue them because he needs to protect the bridge builder.

'I'll just have to break the mirrors!' Sasuke thought. He folded his hands together, "Fire Release: Great Fireball no Jutsu!" He blew a gigantic ball of fire, hoping to melt the ice. Sakrua shook her head, no amount of heat can break the mirrors. When the fire cleared, the mirrors were intact.

"No level of fire can melt these ice mirrors." Haku explained. He took out another handful of senbons, his reflection appeared in all the mirrors, they threw the senbon. The needles flew and found it's target, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. They were kneeling on the ground, wringing in pain.

'Damn, I can't control this amount of pain.' Thought Sakura. She was clutching her wounds.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto multiplied in a poof of smoke, he started to attack the mirrors. But Haku detached himself from the mirrors, and attacked Naruto and the clones. Haku attacked and slashed, all the clones were destroyed. And Naruto fell on his bottom. Naruto was wiping the blood from his cheek using the back of his hand. "I can't die here, I have a dream that I must fulfill." Naruto muttered. That one sentence brought Haku back in time, to a distant memory.

Memory: Haku was alone, he killed his father, an outcast in his village, he was alone, until he met Zabuza on a cold winter night.

Zabuza passed a kneeling Haku, he looked back, "Hehe... What an unfortunate child." He walke back and bended his knees to look at Haku, "A brat like you isn't wanted by anyone... you will die with neither freedom nor dreams." He taunted. He looked surprised when Haku looked up at him and smiled.

"You have the same eyes as me." Haku said, smiling.

Haku came back to reality. "This bridge... This is the place where we fight to defend out dreams." Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto's attention risen. The three smirked. Kakashi took this moment to reveal his sharingan. Zabuza was waiting in anticipation. Before he started to fight, he created a clone to help guard Zabuza. The three kids in the ice trap were working out a plan together. Before anyone could make a move, Zabuza created a thick white fog that enveloped the bridge, except the inside of the demonic mirrors jutsu. The three were blind to the outside world.

"I'll end this..." Haku muttered before pulling out more senbons. He and his clones aimed at a specific target, Naruto and Sasuke.

'Damn.' Sakura muttered. The next thing she did was both foolish and brave, she pushed the two out of the target spot, and waited for the senbons to strike.

"SAKURA!" The two yelled, they next thing they saw was horror in their eyes. Sakura was kneeling on the ground, a small stream of blood was spilling from her mouth. Senbons were sticking out of her like a porcupine, her eyes wide with pain. Kakashi turned to the sound, afraid of what happened.

'Sakura, what happened-' Kakashi's eyes widened as he just blocked an attack against Zabuza's sword with a kunai.

'You're opponent is me.' Zabuza said.

Sasuke and Naruto scrambled over to Sakura, Haku waited and watched. Before they were even there, Sakura already closed her eyes. Naruto and Sasuke believed she was dead, Sakura was actually in a deep sleep that helped speed up the healing process of her body and mind. Sakura could still hear what was going on outside. Sasuke was holding on to Sakura's body, shocked and scared. Naruto had a burning feeling rise in his stomach.

"You..." Sasuke muttered, he gently placed Sakura on the ground, "Are going to pay for what you did." The next thing that happened was shocking, two tomoe's circled Sasuke's pupil, he awakened his sharingan. Something was also happening to Naruto, a red/orange bubbly chakra was surrounding Naruto. The whiskers on his face grew darker and longer, his fingernails extended to look like claws. The two looked very mad, and dangerous.

(Long story short, Sasuke and Naruto defeated Haku, Sasuke gained his sharingan after Sakura fainted. Kakashi sort of defeated Zabuza. Sakura wakes up, Naruto and Sasuke are relieved. Gato arrives cutting the deal with Zabuza. Naruto hands Zabuza a kunai, leading to Gato's demise. Gato's gang tries to attack Team 7, but Inari arrives with the villagers to fight back. Villagers regain their bravery, and Gato's men leave the Wave country. Sorry, I felt really lazy at this part.)

Next Day:

Team 7 was heading off back home. The whole entire village was at the entrance, going to say goodbye.

Inari and Naruto were trying hard not to cry. "Oy, Inari. It's okay to cry." Naruto's eyes looked watery.

"I'm not going to cry." Inari's eyes were also watery, he was forcing himself to keep himself composed. When Team 7 turned their backs on the villagers to walk away, Naruto let out his tears quietly. Sakura looked back to see Inari doing the same thing.

'These guys could be twins.' Thought Sakura.

"I know what to call the bridge." He said to his daughter as he waved to the crowd.

"What?" Asked Tsunami.

His face was filled with pride, "The Great 7 Bridge."


	16. My Name

Time Skip: A Week Later

Sakura sighed, 'I'm so bored, nothing exciting has happened ever since our visit to the Wave country.' Sakura kept walking, until she bumped into someone. "Sorry." She muttered, here eyes were half closed. She barely slept since she was busy convincing her mother that she was fine. She felt a hand on her arm, holding her back. She looked up to see who stopped her, it was a boy with a hood on and a dog's head poking out of the boys hair.

"You're, the girl from before!" Pronounced the boy. The dog started barking excitedly, he jumped out of the hood and landed in Sakura's arms. Sakura giggled and petted the dog, the dog waved it's tail.

"Ah, I forgot to mention, my name is Kiba, he's Akamaru." Kiba introduced himself.

Sakura smiled, "My name is Sakura. By the way, I'm sorry for bumping into you, that time."

Kiba blushed, "It's a-alright." He slightly stuttered. He looked slightly to the side to avoid looking at Sakura. Sasuke was nearby, he was walking outside, with nothing to do. He kept walking around, avoiding the fan girls screams, and Naruto.

"Oy! Sasuke! Let's have a go, you and me!" Naruto was yelling in Sasuke's ears.

"Leave me alone." Sasuke muttered.

"Come on! I'll show you how strong I really-" Naruto was stopped when Sasuke stopped all of a sudden. He looked around to see why he stopped, when he did, he was both angry and surprised. In front of them, Kiba was blushing/smiling, and Sakura was happily petting Akamaru.

"Eh?!" Naruto exclaimed. Before he could say anymore, Sasuke was already walking toward the two.

"Oy, Sakura." Sakura looked at Sasuke. Sasuke started blushing, he didn't know what to say. "Um..." He blushed like crazy, he looked away to try and hide his embarrassment. Kiba looked annoyed.

"Sasuke, why don't you go sulk somewhere. I'm taking Sakura on a walk." Kiba said. Akamaru barked in agreement. Sasuke was slightly angry, he wrapped a shoulder around Sakura, forcing Akamaru to jump to the ground, he barked angrily. Sasuke lead Sakura away from Kiba. Naruto followed. "HEY!" Kiba yelled at Sasuke. Naruto pulled on his right eyelid and stuck his tongue out, taunting Kiba. Sasuke dragged a confused Sakura while Naruto ran after them. Later, Sasuke abandoned the two for unknown reasons, now it was just Sakura and Naruto walking down an empty road. With a fake rock following them.

'It's so obvious.' Sakura thought, she sighed. It was so noticable, even Naruto noticed.

'It's a box with two holes in the front.' Naruto thought before turning around to confront the followers. "That's way too noticable, what rock is perfectly square and has two holes in front." He asked. The box shook for a few seconds, and out revealed two boys, and a girl. It was Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi.

"As expected from my rival." Konohamaru rubbed his nose in delight. He introduced Naruto and Sakura to his friends, they were about to play ninja before Konohamaru was caught by a boy wearing makeup.

"Hey! Let him go!" Naruto yelled at the boy. Sakura noticed the girl next to him. She had a large folded fan on her back, she looked smug.

Faster than their eyes can follow, Sakura had Konohamaru in her hands as she placed him on the ground, "Thanks Sakura-chan." Muttered a surprised Konohamaru. Sakura ignored his thanks and glared at the shocked group.

"Identify yourselves." Sakura said, her voice cold and unfriendly.

"I'm Temari, this is Kankuro." Temari introduced before Kankuro could retort. Temari smirked, "Impressive, kid."

Sakura looked her in the eyes, Temari flinched, "I don't need the praise of useless ninja's."

'She reminds me of him.' Temari thought

Kankuro growled, "That's it!" He started to pull the bandaged object off his back before a rock sailing out from nowhere stopped him. The small group looked up to see Sasuke. Looking extremely smug, if his fangirls were here they would glomp him to the ground.

"Konoha may have an alliance with Suna," Started Sasuke, he was bouncing another rock in his hand, "But it's forbidden for shinobi's to enter another village without a reason." He smirked. Moegi blushed and had hearts in her eyes.

'Damn, Sasuke.' Naruto thought angrily.

'Showoff.' Sakura directed her attention back to the ground.

'Cute...'Temari blushed.

'Oh, great. Another kid that pisses me off.' Kankuro bitterly scowled.

"We're here for the Chunnin Exams." The group looked up at the branch next to Sasuke. There, a boy was hanging off of the branch upside down. He had bright red hair, dark circles around his eyes like a panda, and the character of love on his forehead. He radiated a strong killing intent. His teamates looked scared, Sasuke was shocked, and Naruto was confused.

Sakura mentally smirked, "I like him.'

"G-Garra, we were only-" Kankuro stuttered.

"Shut up or I'll kill you." He said.

Sasuke took a step back, hand on the trunk of the tree, 'I didn't even sense him.'

"Yes, Garra." Kankuro looked down at the ground. The boy called Gaara landed gently on his feet next to his teammates.

"Let's go." He ordered, the three started to move before Gaara stopped and turned around. "What's your name?" He asked.

"Me?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"No," That downed Naruto's spirit, "The one in pink."

"Haruno Sakura, may I ask for your full name?" She asked.

Silence crushed everyone, the pressure was hard to handle. Before anyone could crack, Gaara answered. "Sabaku no Gaara.(Gaara of the Desert.)" Temari and Kankuro were shocked that Gaara said his full name. The three left before anyone could say anything. Sakura took her leave before anyone could question her surprising speed. Sasuke was mostly shocked that Gaara didn't ask for his name.

Akatsuki Hideout:

"Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi yelled in Deidara's ear.

A vein popped on his head, "Will you shut the f*ck up un!" He yelled back.

Itachi and Kisame were watching from the entrance way. "Maybe we shouldn't have dumped that bookcase on his head."

Itachi nodded, "Hn..." A few days ago, the Akatsuki tried to kill Tobi, and make seem like an accident. While Deidara and Hidan distracted Tobi, the rest pushed this heavy bookcase on his head. Surprisingly, he survived. But he loast so many brain cells, he starts acting like a child and referring to himself by his name. And almost always ends his sentence saying he's a good boy. The Akatsuki is suffering, greatly.

"Tobi is a good boy! Tobi is now going to the kitchen to get a juice box! Tobi is a good boy!" He yelled before happily skipping out of the room. Humming a strange tune. Tobi also grew a strange liking to juice boxes after his massive head injury. Kisame had to step in to stop Deidara from throwing an unfinished clay bomb on his head.

"I'm going to kill him un!" He screamed while holding up a lump of explosive clay, Kisame had his right hand holding his left hand and the other around his waist to keep him on the couch.

"We can't kill him, yet." He growled the last part. He released Deidara once he calmed down. Inside the kitchen, it was only Tobi and Zetsu. Tobi was happily sipping box of apple juice with his mask off.

"You do know **that we need that girl for our plans.**" The white and black Zetsu reminded Tobi.

"Of course." No longer hiding his fake, childish voice. Replaced by a surprisingly sexy tone. "How could I forget?"

Zetsu looked at Tobi, "When are we **talking action**."

Tobi placed a hand on his chin, in deep thought. "Maybe in 2-3 years. Sooner if Madara-sama says."

Zetsu slapped him on the back of the head, "Don't use **his **name here." He scolded.

Tobi rubbed the back of his head, "Woops."


	17. The Green Duo

"What's going on?" Wondered Naruto as Team 7 were heading toward room 301. A large crowd was gathering in front of a classroom on the second floor. It was odd however because the sign points that the door everyone's gathering around was 301. Interesting... Our group moved closer to get a better view, we saw two chunnin blocking class '301' and sneering. Keeps on telling us how man times they fail blah blah blah, how hard it is blah blah blah. Finally after listening to their story, a girl with brown hair and buns in her hair came forward and begged to come through. The one on the right with the bandages slapped her and she fell to the ground.

"That's terrible." One mumbled.

"How could they do such a thing?" One questioned. A boy in a green spandex suit came forward to help the girl up. What Sakura really noticed about his body was his incredibly, big, bushy eyebrows. Another boy came forward, Sakura recognized the boy as a hyuga due to his pupiless eyes. Finally, Sasuke made his move.

"Scuse me. Trying to get past here. And while you're at it, release the genjutsu you placed on this hallway." Sasuke confessed. The two 'gennin' at the door looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Hm. Sharp kid." Waves emitted in the air as the sign 301 changed to 201. The crowd gasped with surprise. "But don't think that this is over." The one with bandages launched a kick while Sasuke was planning to protect himself with a punch. Before their hits to meet, they were held back by two hands. No, it was not Lee, and no it wasn't Gai. Instead is was Sakura. The group jumped back, they didn't even see her move.

"Stop it Sasuke, now's not the time to fight." Sakura scolded as the two retracted their attacks.

'How?' Sasuke demanded mentally.

'She's faster than Lee.' The Hyuga observed.

'A girl that faster than me,' Lee clenched his fist but not in anger, but in happiness, 'We are meant to be together.' Sakura wiped her hands on her shirt as if she was contaminated with a disease. The bandaged kid's friends laid a hand on his shoulder, a silent message passed through as the two disappeared in smoke. Everyone was frozen for a few seconds before Sakura tried to walk away but was intervened.

"You!" Lee pointed a finger at Sakura, heavy tension went between them before Lee got down on his knees, suprising Sakura. "PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!" He literally begged. A sweat dropped from Sakura and his female teamates faces.

'Wow, he's desperate.' His only female teammate thought.

'I read about this in the book from Zetsu. When one feels attraction to the other, they ask their hand in companionship. Then leading to marriage, then ki-' Sakura's eye twitched, 'Hell no am I giving kids to this lump.' Sakura forced her trademark fake smile, "I'm sorry, but I'm not looking for a relationship right now." Lee sulked in the corner, dark aura lines enveloped his body.

"Hey you!" The Hyuga came forward, grabbing Sakura's attention.

'Please don't tell me he want's me to give him kids too.' Sakura pleaded mentally.

"What your name?" He demanded.

Sakura let out a deep sigh, 'Oh thank Jashin, God, and Pein.' She thanked. "It's rude not to give your name before asking for another's" She grabbed Naruto and Sasuke wrist and dragged them upstairs. The Hyuga growled in annoyance before dragging his other teammates upstairs also. Sadly, yes they encountered Lee. Lee challenged Sasuke and would have won if they weren't interrupted by a giant, turtle? (AN: I suck at fight scenes. My only excuse, sorry.)

"LEE, YOU FOOL YOU KNOW THAT TECHNIQUE IS FORBIDDEN!" The turtle scolded a bowing Lee.

"Can turtles become sensei's" Naruto asked.

Sakura nodded, "Yeah." She stretched the word delicately. Remembering when Pein summoned a turtle to teach her swimming, breathing techniques, and expanding how long she could hold her breath.

"Gai sensei shall take it from here." Right after those words, a poof of smoke appeared and there showed a jounin with a green vest, green spandex suit, a bowl cut. And using a nice guy pose. But-

"His eyebrows-"Naruto started commenting.

"So big-" Started Sasuke.

"So gross-" Sakura implied.

"Baggy eyebrows." Naruto commented.

"Does this guy know how to wax his eyebrows?" Sakura asked.

"Stop disrespecting Gai sensei!" Lee shouted.

"Lee..." The one called Gai spoke gently.

"Yes, Gai sensei." Lee turned around to face his teacher.

"You, you fool!" He yelled before kicking Lee's face straight into the wall. When Lee fell to the ground fake tears rose to his eyes. He faced his master with shame.

"Gai sensei..."

Fake tears also came to Gai's eyes, "It's alright Lee, I know!"

"Gai sensei."

"Lee."

"Gai sensei!"

"Lee!" They launched themselves at each other as they hugged the life out of each other. Fake tears rolled out of their eyes as an imaginary sunset shined on the two. The waves crashed on the cliff they were standing on.

"That literally disgusts me." A sweat dropped from Sasuke face.

"Hey, Teme. I can't believe you lost to this guy." Naruto commented.

Sakura however was silent, watching the two embrace. It sort of reminded her of when her mother would hug the daylights out of her every time she received a wound. Even a simple scratch would cause her mother to bawl over her body. A slight shiver went down her spine as she was reminded of those memories. Once the two finished their 'admiration' hug, Gai faced the three that witnessed the horrifying moment.

"Ah. You must be Kakashi's student's eh?" He asked the still traumatized children.

"How do you know our sensei?" Sasuke asked.

Gai lightly chuckled, "Well you see, I'm his eternal rival. With the score of 49 to 48. In my favor!" He jerked a thumb at himself. Their eyes widened.

'No way, this guy's stronger then our sensei?" Naruto questioned.

'How?' Sasuke mentally asked himself.

'Our sensei is weaker then this guy? How pathetic.' Sakura said in her mind.

"Well now, fair well youthful students!" He waved as he and the turtle disappeared in a poof of smoke. Lee was also no where to be seen, Team 7 decided to just head to the class room. And there, they meet their master.


	18. Demon

After a 'joyful' talk with Kakashi, about staying a team and whatnot, we finally enter the class room. And there are a ton of people in a the back, shooting us dirty looks. Wonderful.

Suddenly, a huge blob came out of nowhere and clung on to Sasuke's back. She started snuggling on Sasuke's back, while he shot her a death look.

"Sasuke-kun~ where have you been? I've been looking all over for you." She shoots Sakura a dirty look before going back to snuggle with Sasuke's back.

"Hey, Look! It's the idiot trio!" Naruto called pointing at two boys and the blonde.

"Don't call us that," The one with a slouched back complained, he stole a glance at Sakura, "Who's she?"  
Sakura pulled off a fake smile before stretching out her hand in welcome, "Haruno Sakura."  
The boy took the hand and shook it, "Nara Shikamaru," He looked at the one eating chips, "That's Akimichi Choji," He leaned in to whisper in her ear, "A little word of advice, never call him fat." He pointed at the blonde, "Yamanaka Ino. She has a giant obsession with Sasuke, It's incredibly troublesome."

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Called a voice. The small group turned to see Kiba and his teammates walk toward them.

Sakura was still fake smiling, "Hi, Kiba-kun." A soft shade of pink floated on to his cheeks. He looked away to avoid Sakura looking at him.

"Oh yea, these are my teammates. Hyuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino." He introduced.

"H-hello." Hinata stuttered. Shino was silent but gave a nod before leaning on a wall nearby.

"Don't mind Shino. He's always like that." Kiba said before looking at the group of nine. "Welp, looks like we're all here."

"You guys should keep it down." A voice warned. The crowd turned to see a silver/white haired boy, wearing glasses, and also a leaf headband. "Look behind you."

They did and saw everyone in the room shooting them death glares. Sakura glared back, 'I want to kill them all.'

_"Then you should..." _A dark and cold voice echoed through her head. She looked around, trying to find the source.

"Anything wrong, miss?" The boy politely asked.

Sakura pulled off fake grin, "No, it's fine."

'What's wrong with her?' The boy wondered before also smiling, "Rookie's out of academy? Aw, jeez." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Who do you think you are?" Asked Kiba.

"Me?" The guy readjusted his glasses, "Kabuto. This is my seventh time."

"Seventh?" Choji wondered.

"Yup, they do the exams two times a year, basically this is my fourth year." His hands wandered to his pouch.

"So you must know a lot about this exam." Shikimaru commented.

"Yup, and since," Kabuto took out a pack of blank cards from his pouch, "I'm in a good mood. I'll share with you cute genin some nin-info I've collected over the years."

Kabuto started explaining about the reasons for the exam, and yadda yadda yadda. In Sakura's ear's, it was blah blah blah, boring history. Usually she would listen to important information, but she already knew this.

'I want to kill this guy hear and now.' She thought.

_'I agree...' _Sakura looked around again.

'What?' she wondered. She closed her eyes, she could feel everyone's chakra amount, see their chakra color, and feel their power. She focused and saw it all. The only one's that stood out were Sasuke, Naruto, and surprisingly Kabuto. She mentally raised an eyebrow at this. Sasuke's was blue color, Naruto's was orange, and Kabuto's was green. Of course, Naruto's was giant considering he had the kyuubi inside him. Sasuke's was larger than ordinary genin thanks to the sharingan, Kabuto's however was larger than Sasuke's, and more than half of Naruto's. Which was actually a lot. Sakura focused harder, she saw Kabuto's chakra form into an animal. A snake? She took a deep breath through her nose, she smelled snakes coming from Kabuto. The snake smell was familiar, it almost brought a tear to her closed eyes. It smelled just like-

"Hey, you ok?" A voice made her snap out of her trance. She looked up seeing Kabuto and the others (Actually everyone in the room) looking at her.

She shrugged, "What?"

Kabuto pointed at her face, "You were..."

She reached a hand and felt something wet, she pulled away the hand and saw a red liquid. She tasted it, recognizing it as, blood? She wasn't surprised, ever since she received her dojutsu's, she was unable to cry tears. Only blood dripped from her eyes instead. She wiped away the blood with her hands, but that didn't stop them from dripping from her arms, to the floor.

"Sakura-" Sasuke was about to ask before Sakura felt three presences moving toward them fast. Sakura reacted by grabbing two under her arms, holding the other to the ground using her foot. The three were struggling. Eyes were widened and a few took steps back.

"Let go of me you bitch!" The one with black hair struggled under her foot.

"LET GO!" The girl cried from under her right arm. The one with bandages covering his face was struggling, but not making a sound.

"Listen." She leaned in close so that only those three would hear, "I'm in a bad mood, I won't hesitate to kill you right here and now." She tightened her grip on her victims neck. They clawed at her arms, suffocating. While Sakura pushed the boys head deeper into the floor, the floor made creaking sounds. Close to breaking.

'I can see why Orochimaru-sama talks high of her.' Kabuto examined.

'Has she been holding back, all this time?' Sasuke bitterly thought as he tightly clenched his fists with jealousy. She retracted her grip from the three and held up her hands in defense with a fake smile.

"Maa, maa. Sorry, but there's something you should know about me, I don't like surprises. How about a hug as truce." She held out her arms warmly. But inside she wanted to snap their arrogant spines and feed them to a burning fire. She took a step forward while the three took a step back. She took another step, this time they fled into the crowd. She slowly turned back to the others, still smiling. "Guess they didn't want a hug." Her voice was cold, but coated with warmth. She slightly chuckled, causing everyone in the room, besides Gaara, to flinch.

'This girl scares me.' Kankuro thought from the other side of the room.

Temari glanced at her younger brother, 'This girl may even be a challenge for Gaara.'

Gaara was glaring, but had a creepy smile on his face, 'Interesting...' There was a poof of smoke that helped break the tension. A man with a large and long coat, bandana tied around his head, and scars across his face was examining the room.

"Alright runts. Get into your assigned seats now before I kick you out of the room." He threatened as the others hoped that they didn't have the pink haired girl near them. They were all in their seats, but Sakura was was looking at Ibiki with empty eyes.

"You!" He pointed a finger at her, "Stop causing problems in this exam." Heavy pressure filled the room as they waited for the demon girl's reaction. The two were glaring at each other, while the jounin/chunnin were watching also. Ibiki blinked, his eyes feeling dry. Sakura laughed out loud like a maniac, throwing her head back. Many people in the front backed away, while Ibiki blinked in confusion.

"Whatever." Her mood and tone entirely changed as she walked to her assigned seat.

'What's wrong with her?' Ibiki glared.


	19. My Name Is Shinju

When Ibiki yelled start, everyone tried their best to cheat and not get caught. Sakura merely glanced at the answers.

'This is higher than ordinary genin level. Basically, the point of this exam is to obtain information without getting caught. One of the traits of a true shinobi.' Sakura stole a glance at Sasuke using his sharingan, and then looked at Naruto who was struggling. Sakura leaned back in her chair, folded her arms, and fell asleep.

'Alright, who to cheat off of.' Ino thought as she examined the genin. She spotted the pink haired and decided to copy off her. 'Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique)!' She quietly thought as she reached herself out to Sakura's mind. 'Heh, I'm in.' She wanders her spirit toward the brain for control before a giant object stopped her. 'What?!' She questioned before she was hit by what looked like a tail. She was knocked out of Sakura's mind and fell out of her seat. Causing everyone to turn to her, except Sakura who kept on sleeping.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?" Ibiki asked while Ino scramble back to her seat.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong!" She said with an embarrassed smile on her face. Everyone went back to their tests as Ino looked at her teammates. Her teammates raised an eyebrow while Ino mouthed later. Finally, it was the tenth question.

"Alright! Pencils down, and listen up! You there!" He pointed at the boy sitting on the left of Sakura. He flinched, "Wake that girl up! We're not starting until she wakes up!" The boy was now nudging on Sakura's shoulder, attempting to wake her to avoid trouble.

'Did she really just sleep through the whole test?' Sasuke wondered.

'Is Sakura-chan just tired?' Naruto asked mentally.

'Maybe I overestimated her.' Temari thought. The table mate kept nudging and asking her to wake up, but Sakura doesn't oblige and keeps sleeping peacefully. One examiner had enough and threw a kunai at the back of her head. Before anyone could do something, Sakura silently activated her sharingan/rinnegan when she felt it flying toward her, she used her rinnegan to push it away. 'Universal Push.' She gently thought as the kunai changed directions and hit the wall behind her. Many people were backing away as Saura released the dojutsu's and looked at the proctor.

'Nope, I underestimated her.' Temari concluded.

'How?' Sasuke questioned.

'Woah, Sakura-chan's so cool!' Naruto eagerly thought.

"Yes?" Sakura asked as she let out a yawn, "Is it time for the last question?"

'What is Kakashi teaching these days?' Ibiki wondered. "Yes it is. And we've been waiting for you to wake up!" Ibiki started explaining that if we failed the question, they could never take the test ever again. People were forfeiting, until Naruto made a faith lifting speech and everyone stopped failing. Ibiki passed everyone and tole them the reason for the test. Before a purple object came jumping into the room flinging weapons everywhere and hooking up a poster with Konoha's symbol on it. She had purple hair pulled into a messy bun with a long light brown coat. An enthusiastic/crazy look was pasted on her face.

"Listen up! I'm your second proctor for the chunnin exams, so don't start celebrating yet! I Mitarashi Anko! Now follow me!" Anko introduced while pumping a fist in the air.

"And I'm called crazy..." Sakura muttered.

"What was that?" Anko asked while leaning an ear in.

"I said call me crazy." Sakura spoke louder so everyone could hear.

Anko nodded with a grin, "You got spunk, I like that! But spunk doesn't give you anything in life, kid!"

"It gave me a death wish!" Sakura retorted. There was silence before Anko threw her head back and laughed. Shoulders shaking.

"I think we'll get along great!" Anko laughs.

"Idiot..." Sakura muttered.

"Alright! Follow me midgets!" She shouted encouragingly as she led the class out of the door.

I quickly rolled my eyes as I jumped out of my seat, and ran through the door. Ignoring the strange and scared looks I received. I kept running and running, before I stopped. Pain flooded my body, first my heart, then the pain spread from the middle. All the way to the ends. But the pain hurt the most on my head. I clutched it while hissing.

_"Don't try and stop me..."_ The dark voice from before said before my vision blacked out. The class was already filing out of the room. They stopped a few feet away from Sakura. Scared to get any closer. Her teammates took a brave step forward, Naruto tapped her on the shoulder.

"Um... Sakura-chan?"

Sakura slowly turned around and faced the group with a frown, even thought she didn't show it, her anger choked the life out of everyone.

Naruto was brave enough to say something, "Sakura-chan. Um, you're ch-choking me." Her face was unfazed, but she turned around and walked around the corner. Sakura smirked as she turned, "**Infiltration, success...**" She said as her eyes shined a flash of red underneath her contacts. Her voice was also dark and scary, exactly like the one in her head. "**These puny humans will fear me, Shinju. (10 tailed beast)**"

(Skipped part, sorry. Anko announced that the 2nd test will take place in the forest of death. People sign consent forms. Sakura(Shinju) pretends to act like Sakura and talk like her. Skip the part about Naruto being kidnapped, and now at the part where Orochimaru placed the seal on Sasuke)

Sasuke places a hand on his neck, giving one last scream of pain before blacking out. Naruto lay on a branch nearby, unconscious from Orochimaru's sealing jutsu. Orochimaru then looked at me with a smirk.

"Well, it feels nice to finally talk to you. Sakura-chan. I wanted to mark you but-"

"**Shut it human.**" Shinju spoke, she/he reached up and took the colored contacts out of her eyes. They were a blood red.

Orochimaru took a slight step back, "Who are you?"

Shinju smirked, "**I am Shinju, the ten tailed beast. The origin of all chakra. This girl is merely my vessel.**"

His eyes widen in fear, "That's impossible. The ten tailed beast was split into nine beasts."

"**My body was split, but my mind was sealed into this girl. That brat, Yahiko made sure of that.**" Shinju clenched her/his fists, a scowl on her face before melted into a smirk. "**You better run, Orochimaru.**" His eyes widened as he hightailed it out of there with an escape jutsu. He melded in with the tree, disappearing. Shinju sighed, she/he desperately wanted to spill some blood. She glanced at her vessel's teammates, she/he sighed again before using her/his rinnegan to slowly push them forward. Trying to find a hide out until these two healed.

* * *

**Ten Tailed Beast Jinchuriki inspired by one of my reviews.**

**Thank you for supporting this story. Reviews are encouraged.**

**~Pleasereadmything**


	20. Cheshire Cat

"That's the girl Orochimaru spoke fondly about?" The guy with bandages and fur coat asked his teammates as they watched 'Sakura' heal her teammates with green glowing hands.

"I'm gonna make that bitch pay for humiliating me." The one with spiky black hair said before jumping down to face 'Sakura'.

"Baka!" The one with long black hair said before the boy's other teammates followed him.

"Hey you!" The guy pointed at the girl healing the boys. Shinju didn't even spare a glance, his/her back to the enemy as she/he kept healing her/his teammates. Not saying a word.

"HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" The boy stepped forward but was stopped when his left arm was cut off by an unseen force. He screamed in pain as he fell to his knees, his teammates backing away. Shinju secretly smirked while still healing her/his teammates. Under the colored contacts she/he swiftly put on, she/he activated her/his sharingan/rinnegan and made a shadow. Sure, his vessel could make one and have it last for two minutes, but Shinju had endless amount of chakra. Being the one who created chakra, he could make endless amount of shadow for however long he wanted. But he decided to stay at one. The boy was still kneeling on the ground, screaming in pain. His teammates weren't sure what to do, they looked around wildly trying to find the source for the cut. What they didn't know was that the shadow was right behind them. It grabbed their necks, and held them in the air. The two sound-nin were struggling in the air, trying to hit the unseen force. Meanwhile, hiding in the tree's and bushes were team Team 10 (Choji, Shikamaru, and Ino) And Team Gai (TenTen, Neji, and Lee) also the sand team, (Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara). Unaware of each others presences.

"Neji? How?" Asked his brown haired teammate as they looked from a high tree.

Neji closed his eyes and focused, "Byakugan!" Neji took a surprised step back, "That girl, has intensive chakra. It hurts my eyes..." He muttered as he deactivated his dojutsu and rubbed his eyes.

Ino mouth was open in shock, "Shikamaru, how-"  
"Don't ask, because I don't know." He said in a hushed whisper as they hid behind a bush.

Kankuro was slowly stepping away from the fight, "Guys, we should leave."  
"No," Gaara's sand stopped him from leaving, "We will stay and observe." He tried to protest but Gaara shot him a death glare which made him stay.

'What is this girl?' Temari glanced at her younger brother, 'She has a chance of beating Gaara.' Shinju finally stood up and walked toward the kneeling boy. She/he bent down to be face to face with him, the injured boy tried to move but couldn't. A mad grin lit up on her face.

"Now, what do we have here." She/he wondered as she pulled out a kunai from her pouch. Eyes widened as he tried to move, but still couldn't. "What's wrong, cat got your tongue?" The boy looked deep into her eyes before fainting.

In The Genjutsu:  
The black haired boy looked around wildly, there was white road. And everything else was surrounded by purple/red/black fog. He looked over the side of the road to see an endless abyss.

"You don't want to fall down there." A childish voice said. It was an exact replica of Tobi's voice. He looked to the side and saw 'Sakura' with a cheshire cat grin on her face, she wore a purple top hat. (Similar to the mad hatters, but had a picture of a scull instead of the number 10/6) The boy tried screaming but his voice was gone, he felt inside his tongue to realize his tongue was gone. "What's wrong?" 'Sakura' asked as she held out a smoothly cut tongue, "Cat got your tongue?" The boy mutely screamed again while running down the road at full speed. "Where ya going?" She tauntingly asked while walking at a normal speed. Her cat grin still pasted on her face. "I'm not finished with you yet." She started giggling, then the giggle turned into a dark and cold chuckle. Then a chesire cat shadow enveloped 'Sakura', the shadow grew bigger and bigger, darkening the room. Until it was pitch black.

Back In Reality:

He was screaming in pain as he was under her genjutsu. He kept yelling it to stop, even pleaded. Shinju however was using the kunai to sharpen her/his nails. His teammates were still hanging in midair, watching the scene before them. Shinju was happily whistling U Can Do It (By DOMINO), while thinking about world domination, sitting on a rock. She/he had enough and decided to release the shadow, the two teammates quickly stumbled forward, grabbed their teammate, and left, but surrendered their scroll first. Shinju slowly got up and stretched, moving her/his head to the sided and made a few unhealthy crack noises. She/he then took out a few explosive kunai's and threw them in the eavesdroppers directions. The teams scattered in fear.

'Did she know we were here the whole time?' Neji wondered as he lead his teammates away.

'The youthful maiden is, odd...' Lee thought.

'Why's a monster like that in the exams?' TenTen questioned. The teams that were eavesdropping scattered like flies, always wondering what was wrong with 'Sakura'.

Back at the clearing, Shinju chuckled before glancing at the kunai's she/he threw. A blank piece of paper were attached to the kunai, a fake bomb that was perfect for distractions. 'Idiots.' She/he thought before looking back at the vessel's unconscious teammates.

(No, Sasuke's curse powers don't go out of control during the second exams. They wake up questioning 'Sakura' who feigned innocence which they believed. They ran into Kabuto, Shinju keeps a close eyes on him while the foursome travel trying to find remaining scrolls. Run into trouble, but gives Team 7 the scroll they need. And now the preliminaries begin.) Up on the railing, everyone were keeping their distance away from 'Sakura' except for her oblivious teammates. The adults were also keeping a reasonable distance away from her/it after what they saw on the surveillance camera's.

'What has Kakashi been teaching his students?' Asuma wondered.

After the proctor, who had a terrible cough, explained the rules, the names were being chosen by the screen. Everyone was praying to their high spiritual being that they won't get paired up with her. And the names for the first match were, **Abumi Zaku vs Haruno Sakura. **Many let out a sigh of relief, while others were whispering behind the two competitors backs as they made it the training area. When the proctor called start, it was hell from there.

'I'm going to die,'Zaku bitterly thought before looking at his sensei(AKA Orochimaru) who was observing the battle. There he remembered how Orochimaru was the one who saved him, provided him with a home, a purpose. To be Orochimaru's tool, 'I'm going to die for his name.' He thought before taking a long look around him, knowing that when this match ends, he would die. "You're going to pay for what you did to my left arm." He raised his right, ready to attack or repel. Looks of shock were pasted on Sasuke and Naruto's face.

"What did we miss?" Asked Naruto while Sasuke just stared wide eyed at the girl he had a crush on. Other's recoiled while whispering like mad. 'Sakura's' eye's were hidden underneath her/his pink bangs, covering her/his eyesight. After the whispering stopped, silence choked the air. They waited for what she/he would do. She/he looked up, with a grin on her face that would make the cheshire cat run for his money. A loud poof appeared above 'Sakura's' head as a top hat was placed. It was purple with a picture of a skull attached to the sash. Everyone looked in confusion while Zaku fell on his but, scooting back.

"G-get a-away from m-m-me!" He cried while scooting back even more.

'What's so scary about a hat?' Temari wondered as she saw the look on 'Sakura's' face, 'That face, it look's just like Gaara's when he kills.'

Zaku finally decides to attack by sending a gust of air from his arm toward 'Sakura'. Her/his grin was pasted on her/his face as she/he held down her hat with one hand. The wind blew savagely at her/his vessels hair, the audience were also effected as well. When the wind died, she/he was still madly grinning.

"Ah, what a wonderful breeze." She/he said in a tone that wasn't hers. It sounded childish, and creepy in a way. She/he took of her top hat, "Do you know what I call this hat?" No answer from the crowd, "My Special Hat. I got it at the end of the rainbow." A sweat dropped from many's faces.

'Did she go crazy after that battle?' Wondered TenTen.

"Now, what shall my hat give me today?" She/he reached in, it must have been bottomless seeing that she had her arm in shoulder deep. She then pulled out...cards? She/he put her hat back on and began shuffling the cards. The crowd was looking with confusion. "Ah. My favorite deck of seer cards." 'Sakura' looked up at the crowd, "They tell how my opponent, will die." At the final word she/he stopped shuffling and picked out three cards. She/he turned the first over so Zaku could see. It was a picture of a cat, with tape pasted over it's mouth. "The first card, the cat's got your tongue." She reached into her hat and pulled out, a live tongue that was thrashing back and forth. Many people threw up at this part. Zaku tried to scream, but realized the live tongue in 'Sakura's' hand, was his. His eyes widened as she back up slowly. She/he tossed the first card over her shoulder, then flipped the second card. "This'll be fun." It showed the picture of Haku's mask. She/he made a swirl of handseals one handed.

'What?!' Everyone thought in shock.

'One handed?' Orochimaru thought with amazement and shock.

"Hiijutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors." Water seeped out from the cracks of the floor, drawn from the earth itself. They solidified into an ice mirror trap. With Zaku trapped inside with the demon. A child's giggle rang through the air like an echo as 'Sakura's' image showed on the mirrors as a refelction. "Play time." Zaku gave a scream of terror as his 'play time' began. After minutes of screaming, the jutsu was released. Water spashed onto the ground. And there laid Zaku with needles coming out of his body like a porcupine, a small pool of blood formed under his beat down body. 'Sakura' was toying with the last card in her hand, with a satisfied grin on her face. The proctor came forward.

"Alright, that's enough. The winner is-"  
"NO!" Zaku yelled, "This isn't over yet!"

"Don't be an idiot! You'll get killed!" His female teammate yelled. Other's were shouting and begging him to give up.

"NO! I don't care if I die, now move it!" He ordered the proctor as he got up to his knees. The adult sighed, looking up at the hokage's seat. The third merely nodded for the match to continue, the opponent may continue until he gives up or dies. The proctor sighed as he jumped to avoid the fight.

"Now, aren't you a brave little boy." 'Sakura' smirked.

Zaku shakily got up to his feet, "I'm going down fighting."

'Sakura' laughed, "How worthless. Why do you keep fighting?"

Zaku answered with anger and confidence written in his eyes, "To pay back my life." He answered.

'Sakura shook her/his head, pitying the fool. "Very well, now this card," She/he gestured to the last one in her hand, "Will seal your fate." She/he turned it over to reveal, a picture of oil on fire. She/he made a blur of handseals while Zaku's eyes widened. "Katon: Oil Flame Bullet" 'Sakura excitedly yelled, "BURN BABY!" She/he yelled before spitting out oil. Covering Zaku from head to toe. Zakura let out one last yell before 'Sakura' ignited the oil, cackling like mad.


	21. Ice Cream

After her/his fun little laugh session, she/he quickly exited the room before any one could question her/him. She/he didn't bother returning, instead she/he walked around Konoha, planning everyone's death. Before something stopped her/him.

"Ice cream! We have Ice cream!" One man yelled from outside the door of an ice cream shop.

'Ice cream?' Questioned Shinju. In his time of living as a tree, he only experienced water. Shinju shrugged and entered the shop, thankfully there wasn't a long line.

"How may I help you?" An old lady asked, oblivious to the fact that she was serving a demon.

"Hmmm... I don't know. What's ice cream?" Shinju asked in her/his childlike tone.

The old ladies eyes widen, "You don't know? Why, ice cream is a delicious frozen treat that people enjoy eating on hot days. We have chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, chunky monkey, rocky road, blueberry..." She continues to list the names of the icecream she has.

"Hmmm... I'll take a scoop of chocolate, vanilla, and chocolate." Shinju ordered, excited to try this, 'ice cream' many humans love. The old lady obliged and happily handed the 'girl' the cone after she/he paid for it with the pocket money conveniently placed in her/his pouch. Shinju was happily enjoying her/his ice cream with small licks as she/he walked back home. When she/he walked throuugh the doors, she/he was greeted by a black and white cat.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Sakura?" Masaru demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She/he smiled as she/he continued eating her/his ice cream.

"LIAR!" Masaru roared as he shifted into a male lion. He pounced at her/him, but Shinju simply sidestepped the attack. And quickly locked the door behind her/him. Masaru was ready to break down the door before an idea clicked into mind.

'Wait...I'll just find Leader-sama. He'll know what to do!' He thought before changing into a brown cat and jumping from roof to roof. Shinju however was patiently waiting inside the vessels apartment. After enjoying the 'icecream', Shinju didn't want to wait for the third part of the exam, so she/he will sleep through it by going through the month. Since Shinju wasn't exactly, human. He didn't need anything like bathroom breaks. And she/he would only get hungry like once a few months.

"Wonder if this'll work. Ninjutsu: Forced Sleep." Shinju felt herself/himself feel sleepy as she/he fell on her/his bed. Fast asleep.

"Wonder if we should tell Sakura-chan who her opponent is." Naruto asked Sasuke.

"She doesn't need help." Sasuke's voice sounded cold.

"But she's going against-" Naruto was about to finish but their sensei appeared.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted the two sitting at Ichiraku Ramen. "Sasuke, you're training under me. Naruto, your sensei will be Ebisu. Treat him with respect." Kakashi grabbed Sasuke's arm, "Bye!" Before any of them could protest, Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke along with Sasuke. Naruto yelled in frustration.

In The Forest:

"I need to hurry!" Masaru said as he ran through the woods as a panther. "Come on, I'm halfway there!" He was running full speed, but stopped when he heard a giggle. She peered through a nearby bush, and saw a female panther swimming in a pool. In Masaru's eyes, it was hot woman. Hearts were in his eyes as he went over to introduce himself, totally forgetting about the imposter. You see kids, deep down, Masaru is a pervert.

* * *

**Sorry that this is short, I wanted to dedicate the final exam to Sakura/Shinju. We're getting so close to Shippuden! Yay!**

**~Pleasereadmything**


	22. Battling Shinju

One Peaceful Month Later:

Shinju awakens from her/his peaceful nap, and was looking through the vessel's things.

"La la la la la la la. I don't care about priavcy. La la la la la la la. I want to kill you all." Shinju repeats those lyrics over and over, it was 9:30. (30 minutes passed since the beginning of the exams. But Shinju didn't know.) Finally, she/he reached a dusty chest, covered under clothes and boxes. Shinju rubbed her/his hands together.

"All right... What're you hiding you hiding here." Shinju's rubs her/his hands together. Her/his hands touch the lids, but there was a bright flash of light. "Oh no." She/he says as there was a giant explosion.

Back At The Exam:

"It seems, since Sakura is not present for her match, Sasuke will take her place in fighting-"

There was a swish in the air, with a flurry of leaves, and there was Kakashi and Sasuke. Trying to look cool.

"Am I late?" Sasuke smirked. The crowd cheered for his awesomeness.

"Actually you're right on time to take Sakura's place-"

"aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" **A voice cried through the air. Until there was a giant crash, the smoked cleared, and there was 'Sakura' face first in the dirt. Many people grimaced at the pain. A sweat dropped from Konoha 11 and the jounin. 'Sakura was twitching as she/he stood up. Her/his arm was bent at an odd angle. She/he rubbed the back of her/his head.

"heh heh. Sorry, overslept." A sweat dropped from everyone's faces.

"Is something wrong with her?" Asked Kankuro.

"I don't know anymore." Temari answered.

"So, am I safe to compete?" Asked 'Sakura.'

"Sure..." The proctor said while shooing Sasuke and Kakashi off the field. Gaara reappeared on the other side, a crazy glint in his eyes. "BEGIN!" The proctor pronounced through a chewed senbon.

Gaara clutched his head, "Don't be so angry, mother..." The sand hurtled itself toward a smiling 'Sakura', she/he easily dodged, "I fed you nasty blood earlier...I'm sorry. But this time... It will be delicious."

"It's beginning." Kankuro said. Another wave of pain passed through Gaara's head, 'Sakura' took this moment to throw her/his head back and laugh.

"**It's alright, Sabaku no Gaara. You wont have to suffer anymore, I will ease your suffering," **'Sakura's' eyes turned a shade of blood red as her/his contacts burned off her/his eyes, the mad grin was permanently pasted on her/his face as half her/his skin turned a shade of white. "**You wont feel anymore pain. Because,**" 'Sakura' looked eye to eye with Gaara, "**You'll be rejoining you mother, soon, very soon. But first,**" 'Sakura' beckoned Gaara to come forward, "**I want you to hear you scream for mercy. As I pry Shukaku from your body.**" Everyone's eyes widen, even Gaara. "**I shall be whole again. You pitiful humans, CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!" **She/he gave one last laugh before leaping at Gaara. Gaara jumped just in time, to avoid the hit. 'Sakura' landed on her/his feet, a few feet away from the wall. "**Where ya going? **_**Shukaku**_**.**" 'Sakura' laughed as she/he launched herself at Gaara again.

"Shukaku?" The hokage wondered. "What is going on here?" He wondered.

'Enough. I need to end this.' Gaara thought as he pulled up his ultimate defense. His sand formed into a ball to protect him for the time being.

"Don't tell me, he's doing it now? He's completely ignoring the plan." Temari looked at the fight before her.

"When you're up against someone like her, it's necessary. Get ready." Kankuro ordered as he began prying off Crow from his back.

"**HAHAHA! THAT'S RIGHT, KEEP ON HIDING! BUT I'LL ALWAYS BE THERE TO DRAG YOU OUT!" **'Sakura' laughed as her/his hand grew, but it looked different. It was a light brown color, a brown tail grew, taller than five jounin. She/he pulled her/his mutated fist back, black fire surrounded it. "**DIE SABAKU NO GARRA!**" She/he laughed as she/he threw her/his fist forward, then the sand dome cracked, her/his fist made it through. Silence hung through the air.

'Her fist made it through?!' Temari eye's widen.

"AHHHH! MY BLOOD!" Gaara yelled from the inside. 'Sakura' retracted her/his fist. The sand fell to reveal a wounded Gaara, clutching his shoulder. Suddenly, feathers flew through the air. Many fell to the ground, unconscious. There was a loud smoke bomb at the Hokage's seat.

"Hokage-sama!" Gai jumped up to his feet.

"Is Sakura with these people?" Kakashi wondered out loud. Gaara was taken by Kankuro and Temari, into the woods. 'Sakura' quickly followed.

In The Woods:  
"Damn, I think we lost her." Kankuro briefly looked back. A creepy child's giggle rang through the forest. They stopped on a branch, wildly looking around. The giggle came back.

"GO!" Kankuro ordered his sister as he pulled Crow off his back.

"But Kan-" Temari tried to protest.

"I said go! I'll hold her off, you go ahead!" Temari gave Kankuro one last look before pulling Gaara through the trees. Kankuro turned to face the forest. "Come out! Fight me!" He shouted, a small shiver went down his back as he felt a finger push the back of his neck.

"**I'm going to fight Gaara, don't interfere.**" Shinju sent a small jolt of electricity down his neck, causing his to black out and hang from the branch. Shinju returned to chasing down the remaining Sand Siblings.

Meanwhile: Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sasuke were chasing after 'Sakura'. Shikamaru however stayed behind to fend off the following sound-nin.

"We need to hurry!" Sasuke ordered the group as he followed right behind Pakkun.

The group nodded, "Right!"

Back to Shinju:

"**Where ya going, Temari? Bring back Gaara, I want to **_**play **_**with him.**" Shinju chuckled as he/she was following close behind.

'She caught up so fast, at this rate she'll-'Temari never got to finish that thought as she saw a madly grinning Shinju blocking her path. Temari panicked as she tripped, and was hurtling down to the Earth. Shinju wasn't bothering to help her.

'Where is he?' Shinju wondered when she/he didn't see Gaara in Temari's arms. Shinju looked to the right, feeling a massive chakra presence. Shinju's grin widened, 'There you are.' Shinju started running in the that direction while Temari pulls out her fan to slow down the fall.

Gaara was panting, leaning against a tree for support. 'This is bad, Shinju's after me. I gotta-" Shukaku wasn't even able to finish.

"**HALLLOOOO!**" A cheerful voice cried from behind him. Gaara slowly turned around, seeing a half mutated, mad grinning, blood obsessed demon. "**It isn't nice to hide from others.**" The 'girl' playfully scolded.

'Do it kid, if you want us to live.' Shukaku ordered Gaara as he performed the handseals.

Kankuro:

"Ugh..." He placed a hand on his head, "At least I'm not dead." Two boys was hanging over him, one wearing glasses and a long trench coat. Another had a messy bun with a few scratches.

"Come on, we need to help the others." Glasses held out his hand, Kankuro took it with a scowl.

"Fine, Shino, Shikamaru."

Temari:

"Ugh..." Temari was slowly rolling on the ground, she released her fan too late, and bonked her head on the ground.

"Hey Lady! Wake up!" A voice snapped her out completely. She jumped onto her feet and pulled her hand up as a defense. She saw Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke. Along with a puppy.

"You alright?" The boy yelled.

"I'm fine, wait. Where's-" a roar cut through the air like a knife. They all looked at each other before running in the direction of the roar.

Shinju:

"ROOOOOAAAAAH!" Gaara screamed as he transformed into the body of Shukaku, with Gaara at the top. "Ninjutsu: Forced Sleep." Gaara's body slumped forward, as Shukaku's eyes turned a bright yellow. "Haha! I'm free baby!"

Shinju smirked, "**Don't count on it. Kuchiyose no Jutsu.**" She/he slammed her/his hand on the trunk. Shinju was standing in front of...a mirror? "**The Mirror of Truth. This mirror shows you true self, and summons it. Seeing that my body was split, I'll have to make do with this.**" She/he kneeled and looked into the mirror, and there. A hand reached out, it grabbed the edge and pulled itself out. It revealed, the ten tailed beasts body. In it's first form as beast. The mirror shattered, Shinju jumped off and landed on her/his body. Shinju sunk in like quicksand, once her head disappeared, Shinju's eye opened, revealing the rinnegan/sharingan. Shukaku took a heavy step back.

"D-damn." Shukaku muttered.

Back At The Stadium:

"Kakashi! Look!" Gai's voice rang out through the stadium, foe and friend turned to see the ten tailed beast. Many yelled in fright, others dropped their weopons and retreated.

"Impossible..." Kakashi muttered.

The hokage and Orochimaru also saw the sight before them. "How can this be?" The hokage choked out as he kept his hold on his jutsu. Forcing Orochimaru's soul out.

"So it was true..." Orochimaru muttered as he urged his sword to pull in more.

Naruto And The Rest: "What's that!" Naruto pointed from beyond the tree's, at the monster along with the sand beast. Since it was the first form, ten tails showed. A shell covered the top part of it's body, and it only had one eye. Which suspiciously looked like a sharingan and rinnegan.

"What on earth?" They heard a voice behind them. They turned to see Shino and Kankuro.

"We need to go help Gaara!" Temari urged as she led the group forward.

Shinju:  
"**Haha! It's good to be in one of my bodies! Be glad this is only a reflection of what it looks like, or else I would've easily killed you.**" Shinju growled.

Shukaku took another step back, 'I can't handle taking on a ten tailed beast. I'll die.' Shinju pulled one of his tails back, and shot it toward Shukaku. Shukaku may be slow, but he was fast enough to dodge. Unknown to them, down their. Naruto and the Sand Siblings were also down there. Along with one of Naruto's failed toad summonings.

"**Die Shukaku! Become a part of me once more so I can reclaim my body!**" Shinju's voice echoed through the air.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A child's voice shouted. There was a giant poof of smoke, and there they saw Gamabunta.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this. But it's good to see you." Shukaku said.

"**Tch, another brat**." Shinju muttered.

"Oy, why'da summon me kid?" The toad asked the blonde kid laying on his head.

Naruto scrambled up and pointed at Shukaku and Shinju, "You see those two! I want you to fight them. They need to go!" Gamabunta's eyes narrowed.

"No way in hell." He answered.

"WHAT?! WHY NOT?" Naruto demanded.

"Kid, I'm going to be facing against TWO beings. I can handle Shukaku, but the Ten Tails? No way, I have zero chance of beating both." Gamabunta explained.

"Oy, Gama. I'd like to propose a deal." Shukaku said.

"What?" Gamabunta turned to face the one tailed beast.

"You and I work together. If you do this, I promise to disperse back into my vessel, and leave peacefully." Shukaku suggested.

Gama's jaw dropped, nearly dropping his pipe, "Seriously?"

Shukaku shrugged, "As long as I don't face Shinju alone, I'll do anything."

"Hmm...I don't know." Gama thought. A young toad identical to Gama jumped on Naruto's head.

"Hey dad." The small toad greeted.

"Gamakichi? What're you doing here?" Gama asked.

Gamakichi shrugged, "Having some fun."

Naruto's eyes widen, "Wait! You know chief toad?"

"Yup, he's my dad. Anyway dad, that's," Gamakichi pointed at Shinju, "The one that's bullying me."

Gamakichi's stare turned into a glare, "Really?" A bit of death was in his voice.

"Yup! Go beat him up!" Kichi enthusiastically said.

"You know what Shukaku? I've decided." Gama unsheathed his tanto. "I'll help you take down this creep. Kichi, get outta here!"

"See ya Naruto!" Kichi waved before disappearing in smoke.

"Hold on tight kid." Gama instructed as he jumped high in the air. He brought his tanto slicing down, but Shinju jumped to the side, Shukaku swung bullets of sand, but Shinju gathered a ball of energy in his mouth, and launched it. It absorbed the sand and sailed toward Shukaku. He narrowly missed it. The ball of energy sailed far far away, before finally hitting a mountain and exploded. The force of the energy blew tree's back, Shukaku and Gama had to dig their feet into the ground to stay down.

"Damn, at this rate-" Shukaku was about to say before they heard something that lifted their spirits.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Two voices said, male and female. There were three poofs of smoke, one was a giant white and blue slug. The other two were frogs. One was green and blue color, with two twin swords strapped on it's back. The other had red/orange skin. A strange thorn like weapon, a shiny gold colored shield. And lines on it's face. On one of the toads was an old man with white hair. On the slug was a blonde woman and an emerald colored jewel embedded in her forehead.

"Long time no see, Tsunade." The white haired man greeted, "I thought you were gambling near the Earth country."

The one called Tsunade smirked, "Whatever source of information you received was wrong, I was near Konoha the whole time. And I couldn't ignore this battle going on. Besides, it's not like you can handle this all by yourself, Jiraiya."

"Hey Chief! Needs some help?" The one with the shield asked with a smile.

"Good to see you, Gamaken." The Chief greeted while keeping a careful eye on Shinju.

"Wait! What about me?" The green/blue frog looked sad.

"Good to see you too, Gamahiro. You too Katsuyu." He greeted the green/blue frog and slug.

"Pleasure is all mine. If only it was a better time." The slug kindly answered.

"Never mind, Jiraiya, what do you make of this thing." Gamabunta pointed his sword at Shinju who was waiting patiently.

"Hmm... Must've used the Mirror of Truth in order to achieve a reflection of it's body. It's weaker, but still strong. We need to keep our guard up." Jiraiya said.

"Wait! Pervy-sage! What about me?" Naruto asked, finally gaining the attention of his sensei.

"Oh yeah, Naruto! We'll talk later, right now, get your friends out of here. This is a battle you're not ready for." Jiraiya ordered.

"But-"

"GO!" He strictly ordered. He summoned another frog. In a poof of white smoke, was a small orange/red colored frog with blue marking all over it's body. Well, it wasn't that small. It was taller than Jiraiya. A scroll was wrapped by it's tongue, a bead necklace hung from it's neck.

"What can I do for you, Jiraiya?" The toad asked.

"I need you to take that kid," He pointed at Naruto. "And the group down there," He pointed at the shocked/scared group of kids. "Back to town, the fighting stopped there, take them away from this fight. Please Gama."

"Will do Jiraiya." Gama swallowed his scroll, using his tongue to grab Naruto, and jumped down, gathering the rest of the group, and jumping far far away.

Back In Town: The jounin were leading everyone to the safety shelter. The Anbu were securing the third hokage's body. Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen.

"Move!" Kakashi ordered the crowd to the nearest safe shelter. There was a lot of screaming and running. Most of the jounin/anbu were using their abilities to create a small chakra enforced shield around the city. 'Hopefully, it'll hold.' Kakashi believed.

"Yo!" A voice greeted from behind him. He turned to see Gama, one of Jiraiya's summonings. Along with Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto, Sasuke, and two of the Sand Siblings. Kakashi nodded.

"Alright, you guys, go to the nearest safe shelter." Kakashi ordered.

"No! We're going to-" Naruto tried to protest.

"NO! You are not to interfere, you are to stay in the safe house, until ordered to! Do you understand?" Kakashi yelled.

They bowed their heads in defeat, "Yes, sir." They jumped off Gama and start heading to the nearest shelter.

"G-guys!" A gentle voice cried from the door of a shelter, Hinata held the door open. Inside, was the rest of Konoha 11, more than 20 civillians. Both unconscious and awake. More than 30 chunnin, two classfull of gennin. Konohamaru and his friends were in the bunch. And four jounin stationed outside holding a shield barrier. "C-come in! Th-there's still room!" Hinata said. The group ran inside, they left the door open for any body else to come.

"Phew. Made it." Kiba sighed as he held a shivering Akamaru in his arms.

"Wait, where are you parents?" Naruto asked the group.

"Mine are leading the wounded to the hospital." Kiba answered, "My sisters also helping. Along with more than half the Inuzaka Clan and all the ninken."

"M-mine..." Hinata started to answer.

"The clan head is leading small group of Hyuga, and Akimichi to fend off the strange creatures that appeared when that Ten Tailed beast showed up. They're like minature versions, but fightable. Didn't you see them?" Neji both answered and asked. They shook their heads. Everyone's parents were either helping, fighting, or protecting. The clan heads were leading more than half their clans into the mini war.

"Did you also hear? Their saying that anyone who has usable and fightable summons are to use them in battle with the Sannin. Crazy huh?" Choji spoke the news.

"Anyone who can summon a usable animal?" Ino asked.

"Meaning, anyone who has a giant sized animal that could be used for fighting the Ten Tails." Shikamaru simplified.

"Does anyone have a summon like that?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe, Anko Mitarashi. I heard she has a snake contract, but I'm not sure she has the suitable summon." TenTen answered.

"What happened with the hokage?" Sasuke spoke. The mood dampened.

"Th-they say that he lost. But managed to mobilize Orochimaru's arms. He sacrificed himself to stop him, now Orochimaru won't be able to ever use jutsu's." Hinata choked out a sob. Konohamaru started crying.

"Konohamaru, don't cry." Moegi patted Konohamaru's back, tears also forming in her eyes.

"B-but, wh-what if Uncle Asuma dies. Th-then what-" Naruto bonked him on the head.

"Naruto!" The group yelled at him but he ignored it.

"Konohamaru, he wont die." Naruto said, his hair shadowing his face.

"H-how do you know!" Konohamaru demanded, angry. "You don't understand how scared I am!"

Naruto was silent, "You're right, I don't know. But I know, that as long as the will of fire burns inside. He'll" Naruto looked up, "Stay alive, for you. For Team 10," Team 10 smiled at this, "For everyone!" That lifted the hope back in Konohamaru.

"N-naruto." Konohamaru wiped his eyes, "Thanks." He gave a toothy grin.

Outside:

Kakashi was looking for Anko, he found her fighting a few monster along with several other jounin, "Get your hands, off this ass!"

"Anko!" Kakashi cried, "You need to help the sannin!"

Anko shook his head, the small group of jounin ran to fight another group of monsters, "I can't. I try and try all over, but I can't summon Manda."

"You need to! Many people are depending on you!" Kakashi shook Anko's shoulders.

"But I can't-" Anko tried to protest.

"LISTEN TO ME!" Kakashi shook Anko, "I know you can do it! I believe in you, the only reason it doesn't work is because you don't believe in yourself! Do you want to let the third hokage die in vain?" He asked. Anko looked up at Kakashi. Her signature grin grew back on her face.

"No." She answered.

"Then go!" Anko didn't need to be told twice. She ran, heading toward the forest.

In The Hospital:  
"We're losing him!" A medic cried as he was healing a severely burned shinobi.

"Move!" A woman with black hair and dark kimono pushed the medic out of the way. The medic landed on the floor, he scrambled back up.

"Who do you think you!" He demanded.

She looked at the medic, "I am Shizune. Medic-nin and Tsunade's apprentice. Now hand me that gauze and needle over there!" She barked.

The medic hastily fumbled for the needle, thread, and gauze. And handed it to Shizune who was currently healing the burned man. "H-here."

"TonTon! Help the ninken get the wounded inside!" She directed the clothed pig at her feet. The pig oinked in reply before scurrying off.

Back At The Battle Field:

"Tsunade, go on the defensive, cover Shukaku. He doesn't have the speed to evade all of Shinju's attack. Also, Have Katsuyu split some snails from her body and attatch them to everyone, we're going to require a lot of chakra for this battle." Tsunade obliged. Soon, there was a tiny snail on all the summons, and one one on the sand beast. Tsunade directed Katsuyu to defend Shukaku while he deals attack from the back. "Gamaken, Gamehiro, Gamabunta, you guys deal some sword attacks. But make sure not to get hit by those balls of energies. You see those, then immediately scram. You understand?"

"Yup/Gotcha!/Whatever." They answered. Jiraiya who sat on top of Gamabunta now saw the full view.

In The Forest:

Anko Was right below the beasts feet, attempting over and over to summon Manda. But she kept failing and failing, "Come on!"

_"I know you can do it! I believe in you, the only reason it doesn't work is because you don't believe in yourself! Do you want to let the third hokage die in vain?" He asked. Anko looked up at Kakashi. Her signature grin grew back on her face._

_"No." She answered._

Anko told Kakashi she would do it! So she will summon Manda. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" She said as she slammed her palm on the ground.

Back On The Battle Field:

There was a poof of smoke, and it was a giant purple snake. Tsunade and Jiraiya were shocked, thinking that it was Orochimaru, but they saw the figure standing on the head.

"WOOOHHHOOO! Who's the sexiest and awesomest kunoichi? I am" Anko started doing a small victory dance.

"Hmm? What the? Who're you? Oh, it's you, Anko Mitarashi. What do you want?" Manda rudely asked.

"I'm your master now! That's right, this hot girl got herself a summon baby!" Anko excitedly yelled.

"Not in your life time!" Manda attempted to shake Anko off, but she held on to his head.

"Nuh uh! We need you now! Whether you like it or not!" Anko yelled as she rode the buckling snake.

"Hmm?" Manda then realized the situation, "Hmm. Shinju eh? Fine, I'll fight with you. But this is the last time I ever help you selfish, p-"

"Yay! Onward my snake!" Anko let out a small witch laugh. A sweat dropped from Jiraiya and Tsunade's faces.

"Good job, Anko." Jiraiya said. "Alright, your job is to annoy Shinju, so he we'll be able to land some hits, got that? Manda, Anko?"

"Fine/ Yahoo!" They both replied.

"Alright." Tsunade looked at the group that's been assembled.

"LET'S GO!" They all replied, they immediately started with their plan. Manda continued to drag Shinju's attention away from the toads to him. Shukaku shot many sand based attacks at Shinju when he's turned. The three toads scraped and banged their weapons against Shinju's skin. But it was like metal, they couldn't make a decent cut that draws blood. Shinju then got annoyed and began preparing for an energy ball attack.

"Scatter!" Jiraiya ordered as Shinju let the ball loose. Manda landed flat on the ground, the toads were high in the air. Katsuyu was leading Shukaku to safety. The ball narrowly missed Katsuyu and Tsunade as they shielded Shukaku. The ball kept going, until gravity took place. It descended and landed in the lake. A giant explosion shook the ground, in the lakes place was a tiny puddle, and fish/animal guts everywhere.

"Dang, that's one explosion." Gamahiro commented. Narrowly missing a tail that attempted to swipe him.

"Don't get distracted!" Gamabunta scolded as he blocked a tail with his tanto before jumping back.

"We're lucky that it's stuck in it's first form, and it's weakened." Jiraiya commented. "Katon: Fire Dragon Flame Missile!" He blew a dragon made out of fire, it helped stop a reaching tail.

"**I HAD ENOUGH!**" Shinju yelled, he sent a wave of dark chakra through the air, freezing everybody where they stand.

"Can't...move." Jiriaya forced through gritted teeth.

"**Now**," Shinju looked at Konoha, "**Watch as I destroy your beloved village.**" A ball of energy starts forming in Shinju's mouth.

'NO!' All of them protested in their minds.


	23. The Maze Of A Mind

But for some reason, the ball was pushed back, and collided with a screaming Shinju. A look of shock was pasted on everyone's faces. Hidden in the trees, was Deva Path Pein, using his rinnegan to repel the attacks. Even though destroying Konoha is part of his plan to bring peace, he needed to do it his way.

"Who repelled it?" Tsunade questioned Jiraiya.

"I don't know, but we'll deal with that later. We'll assume for now that the repelling force will keep Shinju's attacks away from Konoha. But right now, we need to focus on that." He pointed at a roaring beast.

"**I WILL DESTROY YOU! YOU HUMANS STOLE MY SACRED POWER, FOR THAT YOU SHALL PAY!**" Vowed Shinju.

"The only chance we have of defeating it is by sealing it, does it have a host?" Jiraiya asked Shukaku.

"Yeah, a little pink haired girl, she was absorbed into the body in order to wake it." Shukaku

"Hmm...It seems I'll have to somehow get inside and find the body in order to seal it. But how?" Jiraiya wondered.

"Easy." Gamabunta pinched the back of Jiraiya's clothes, and threw him toward Shinju. He went flying, screaming and flapping like a chicken. And the great Toad sanin, fuinjutsu master, and author of Icha Icha, was swallowed by the almighty ten tails. Shinju started coughing.

"**What sort of fly did I eat?**" Shinju chocked out.

"Hey, if we're lucky Shinju might choke to death." Shukaku commented.

"**Shut up**!" Shinju kept choking and hacking.

Many chuckled at the joke, while Katsuyu looked annoyed. "Don't joke about something like that! Even if that's true, Jiraiya would die, do we really want that on our conscious?" Katsuyu scolded.

Even Manda started laughing, "It wont be that bad, there'll be one less sanin in the world."

A vein popped on Tsunade's forehead, "Oy!" She started waving her fist, "Don't make me come over there!" Shinju finally swallowed and moaned.

"**Ugh, that's the worst thing I've ever eaten. I can taste his sins bouncing off my insides.**" Shinju shuddered.

Inside Shinju:  
Jiraiya kept screaming until he hit a flat surface, he twitched from the intense pain riding up from his front to back. "Oh god, god god god. I'm alive." He started fake crying, "I'm alive." After he happily started appreciating life, he blindly explored the dark stomach. He thought it was just one giant room, before he collided with what seemed like a wall. He started feeling his way around. "This is ridiculous." He made a swirl of handseals, "Katon: Fire Dragon Flame Missile." He breathed out and shot an enormous ball of flame in the shape of a dragon. The dragon lit up the room, he saw that he was in a hallway, filled with twists turns and doors. Thankfully, the flame dragon lit up torches that hanged, abandoned on the walls before disappearing in smoke.. He snatched one and started opening doors.

Outside:

"Move!" Bellowed Gamahiro as he covered a tail from reaching Katsuyu and Tsunade.

"Shit." Muttered Shukaku as he created a barrier of sand that separated the tail from them. Manda kept attempting to bite holes in him, but his teeth merely clanged off.

"Jiraiya, you better damn hurry." Muttered Manda.

Back Inside:

After searching through about, 30 empty rooms. Turning around 16 different corners and walking through endless hallways, Jiraiya was about ready to kiss the dirt. He was nowhere near where he should be, his feet burn, his muscles ache, and he preferred fighting the Ten Tails then this torture. Jiraiya reaches another door, and attempts to open it, but to find it's lock.

"Hmm... If it's locked, something important is on the other side, well then," Jiraiya pulls back his foot, "The Great Jiraiya Kiiiiiiick!" He let loose and his foot hits the door, but it didn't even budge. Shocks of pain traveled up his leg as he yelled, clutching his injured foot. "Okay, that didn't work." He then heard a giggle, he takes out a kunai and looks up and down the hallway, seeing nothing, but then heard the creak of a door opening. He looks to the left and saw a blue door open, and out came, a little five year old, with pink hair, and emerald green eyes.

The atmosphere was tense, before the girl spoke, "You're weird." Jiraiya does an anime fall. "Why do you want to break into my room?" She asked.

Jiraiya stood up with a raised eyebrow, "You're room?" he pointed at the locked door at his left, "This is your room?"

The girl excitedly nodded, "Uh huh!"

Jiraiya played a sweet smile, "Will you please open the door so I can get in?"

"Why?" The girl asked.

"Because...I'm the cleaning maid." He mentally slapped himself for coming up with such a terrible excuse.

"There aren't any cleaning maids inside this place." She pointed out.

"Alright, ya got me. I need to get in because...I left my keys inside." He lied again.

"Oh, ok!" The girl walked over to the door, turning the knob, but it wouldn't budge. "Oh dear, I forgot where the key is." Jiraiya's eye twitched.

"How could you lose the key?" He asked.

"I don't know." Jiraiya did another anime fall.

"What do ya mean ya don't know?" He demanded.

"I don't know." Jiraiya was about to walk away before what the girl said next stopped him.

"But maybe it's in the cell."

Jiraiya gripped the girls shoulders, "Will you please take me to the cell?"

The girl nodded and smiled, "Okay!" She started skipping down the hallway, singing Mary had a Little Lamb. Jiraiya couldn't believe he was placing all his trust, the lives of everyone outside, to a girl singing a child's song. For all he knew, the girl could be a figment of imagination, conjured by the ten tails to lead him off the path. But then again, Jiraiya was already lost.

Konoha:

Sasuke took a glance outside, the streets were cleared of innocent civilians, but were now filled with the bodies of the monster and ninja. He could hear the clang of metal, the way that the edge sliced through skin, the blood dripping on the streets. The buildings were in ruins, the only thing left untouched was the hokage stone monument. His thoughts then wonder off to Sakura, the sweet little girl he met when he was four, was replaced by a killing machine. He tightened his fists, she was more powerful than him. HIM, the last Uchiha, owner of the sharingan, the avenger for his clan. He needed more power, he had to kill his brother. And he wont let anyone get in the way, not even her.


	24. Who Are You

Inside Shinju:

So the tiny pink headed girl was leading Jiraiya through the maze, going through doors, turning into hallways, and jumping into random holes.

"So, do you mind telling me your name?" Jiraiya asked innocently. He needed to squeeze some info from this girl.

"Sakura." The mini Sakura answered.

"Do you know who the host of this body is?"

"Yup," She grinned, "It's me! Or at least, it was me, now it's the other me!"

That didn't make any sense in Jiraiya's brain, "What?"

"You see, Uncle Oreo gave me a special gift before he left, but that gift locked away me, the emotions, now I wander around this place, with no one to play with."

"Is Uncle Oreo by any chance Orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked.

Sakura nodded, "Yup."

"And he left what?" Jiraiya kept his tone even and cool.

"Not telling." Sakura sang as she opened another door. Inside, it wasn't empty, instead it had tiny ghostlike things floating around. Jiraiya slowly brought out a kunai. "These are your sins. Didn't know you had so many mister."

Jiraiya's eye twitched, "These are all my sins?"

Sakura nodded again, "Yup."

Jiraiya hung his head, "I didn't think I had this many." Sakura dragged Jiraiya across the room, to open a door on the other side.

"So," Jiraiya tried to start another talk, "What do you mean by the host of this body not being you anymore?"

"You see-" Sakura tried to explain before a voice interrupted.

"_Sakura, where are you hiding?_" A voice asked. It sounded gentle and melodic.

The little girl immediately hid behind Jiraiya, when he noticed this he prepared for a fight.

"_Sakura, you shouldn't lead strangers. They are bad._" The voice tried to convince.

Sakura's face turned into one with anger, "But you're worse!"

"_Sakura, __**You shouldn't have said that.**_" A huge gust of wind was pulling them down the dark hallway. "_**This host doesn't have any need for useless emotions like you.**_" The little girl kept a hold on Jiraiya's leg, but he was losing his hold, before he knew it, he and Sakura were screaming as they were pulled down the hallway, down a deep and dark abysss.

Outside Shinju:

"What the heck is taking him so long?" Shukaku questioned as he kept throwing sand that harmlessly bounced off Shinju's skin.

"He needs to hurry!" Katsuyu says as she shoots acid spit on Shinju. Shinju prepares another ball of energy, he let it loose, aiming for Konoha again but it was pushed back just like last time. The blow made him roar in rage and pain.

'Where are you, Jiraiya?' Tsunade wondered.

Inside Shinju:

"Ugh." Jiraiya groaned as he sat up and stretched, "I'm getting too old for these kind of things." He stood and began dusting off the dirt he fell on. He took in his surroundings, behind him was a lake filled with water, in front of him was an open cage. The doors were swung far until they reached the hallway walls. The inside was dark, and really scary. Jiraiya took a careful step forward to examine the doors. He looked down and noticed a crumpled seal paper, he was about to touch it before a voice interupted him.

"**Leave this place, and never return human.**" The voice boomed from inside the dark cell.

"Sorry, but I have a job to do," He placed his hands together in a seal, "Katon: Fire Dragon Flame Missile!" He blows a fire dragon that flew inside, it lit the room. Many unlit torches were now lit, and revealed the monster inside. It was a giant tree, with an unbloomed flower at the top. It's roots were dug into the ground, branches were swinging in a protective way, through the branches. Jiraiya saw a pink haired girl, half embedded into the trunk. She looked asleep as the wood kept growing on the girls skin, attempting to bury her in the wood.

"**Leave, NOW. Don't forget, I am the source of your power. If it weren't for me, you humans would be useless sword wielders. LEAVE!" **The voice boomed again.

"No thanks, Katon: Art of the Phoenix Flower!" Jiraiya shot little balls of fire toward the wood. But it was countered by water from behind him, immediately forming protective wall surrounding the tree. When the fire made contact, it just turned to steam. Jiraiya growled, "Damn. Doton:Split Earth Turn Around Palm!" Rocks embedded in the earth revealed themselves, they started circling the tree formed Shinju, waiting to attack. But shinju merely roared as sharp gusts of wind cut the rocks to pieces, the wind also made cuts on Jiraiya's skin as he was blown back.

"**Face it human. You may be a sanin, but you cannot defeat me.**" A branch shot out, attempting to spear Jiraiya but he jumped before it could touch him. "**I was the beginning, and I shall be the end.**" The branch retracted itself and it returned to it's master. "**I give you one last chance, leave now.**"

"N-no." Jiraiya got back on his feet, holding his wounds, "I'm not finished yet." He retreated to the water, going to use water jutsu. But he noticed something shine in the water, he picked it up. It was a golden, old fashioned key. He examined it before he heard a voice.

"G-go." A pained little voice said, "To my room, y-you'll understand." Jiraiya frantically turned around, looking for the little girl. But he was surrounded by a weird light, and then he found himself standing in front of the locked door.

"**You won't escape.**" Dark fire was burning at the end of the hallways, slowly reaching toward Jiraiya. He hastily inserted the key, turned the knob, and closed the door behind him. The room was dark, he was felling the walls, looking for a light switch of some kind, before a soft blue/white light shined in front of him. He looked forward, and saw a blue crystal that was a bit shorter than him. He walked up to it, the light felt warm and nice. He brought a hand to touch it, when he did it broke into pieces. The pieces then turned into a sparkling dust that floated upwards until it disappeared into the darkness.

"What?" He wondered before the room fully lit up. He was in an endless hallway, floating flass floated at the sides, showing moving pictures. "Fascinating..." He murmurs as he moved down the hall, examining the videos. It didn't just show the pink haired girl's memories it showed his also. When he first met his sensei, to now. It even showed the legendary Hashirama and Madara's memories.

"Who's there?" A voice called. Jiraiya brought his arm up in defense. He heard the clacking of heels coming from the darkness. A figure stepped out, Jiraiya's eyes widen in shock.

"Who are you?" He asked.


	25. Suck The Power

Jiraiya saw a hooded figure, his black hood that blocked his eyes. But his mouth was flashing a grin, and he swore that he saw strands of orange hair. "That doesn't matter now. Come on!" The guy gestured for Jiraiya to follow him down the hallway.

"Um. You didn't answer my question, who are you?" Jiraiya asked again, but this time following close by.

The man looked back and flashed another grin, "I'll tell you another time!" The guy looked forward and pointed, "Ah, we're here!" The hooded man lead Jiraiya to a giant sized crystal, many different faces were flashing across the surface, shifting in and out. Little balls of light floated in the air, acting like little lanterns.

"What the-" Jiraiya was about to say before the hooded man took his hand, the two started floating the air. Jiraiya screamed before flapping like a chicken. The earned a laugh from the hooded figure.

"Here." The man took out a little piece of rope from his cloak pocket and attached it from his wrist to Jiraiya's, "Now, follow me!" The male was flying and dragging Jiraiya to the crystal, they stopped, Jiraiya began examining the side.

"What is this?" He wondered. He examined the faces flashing/shifting from one to another. Many different shinobi and kunoichi had different headband markings. Some from Konoha, others from Suna. It even showed pictures of civilians Jiraiya encountered on his journey.

"You see, this crystal shows everyone who contain chakra in their bodies. Basically, it's a chakra controller. It controls the amount of chakra one person may own. If this thing is destroyed, the people's chakra would run haywire, until it destroys the body from the inside." The man said with an enthusiastic tone.

"So..." Jiraiya took this moment to suck in all the information, "This crystal that could mean the fate of humanity, is inside the beast that want to kill humanity. Who was stupid enough enough to put this," He gestured at the blue glowing crystal, "Inside Shinju?"

The man shrugged, "I don't know, but back then, adults were stupid. Anyways, don't worry. Shinju doesn't have a clue where this thing is. Even when he finds out, it automatically moves somewhere else. That's why his inside is a giant maze, it takes him years to find this crystal."

"Hold on, another question. So this thing, is the controller, right?" Jiraiya asks.

"Yup."

"So where is the actual chakra coming from?"

"Well, the actual chakra comes from Shinju himself. Which annoys him like hell." The man chuckled, "Anyways, say you want some extra chakra for more power. You need to use this controller in order to gain that power. But there's a catch, you know how you can only have a specific amount of chakra in your reserves. And to increase those reserves, they can either grow naturally or with intense training. But if you suddenly suck in a huge amount of chakra, sure you can use it. But once you release that huge amount of new chakra, it doesn't come back. It slowly returns to Shinju, very slowly. And there may be some after effects..." The guy drifted off.

"What after effects?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well. You know, the usual fatigue, death, stomach disorder, death, dizziness, death, concuss-"

"Wait wait wait. You're saying, someone could die from this process? And you want me to do this?" Jiraiya crossed his arms waiting for an answer.

"Well, I didn't say you had to do it. But if you don't, everyone will die, when humanity is reborn the people will curse your name, and-"

"Alright, I'll do it!" Jiraiya sighed. "Just tell me the chance of me dying."

The man laughed nervously as he pressed his index fingers together, "Well, it's..." He mumbled the last part.

"What?" Jiraiya held his ear out.

"I said it's eijububjbub..."

"What?" Jiraiya leaned in closer.

"It's an 89.93% chance you'll die." The man whispered.

"WHAT?!" His voice echoed and bounced off the walls. The hooded man clutched his aching ear, clearly surprised by his loud outburst.

"There is a 90% chance that I'll die?" Jiraiya started panicking.

"Actually it's 89.93-" The hooded man tried to make it sound better.

"SHUT UP!" The man started cowering a few feet away. Jiraiya took a few minutes before he gave a defeated sigh.

"If it's for the Leaf. Then it's worth it." He concludes. "I'm just disappointed I wont be able to finish my series."

"Wow." The man flashed a grin, "Your truly my hero, sen-." Jiraiya noticed a tear slipping from underneath the hood. The man quickly wiped it away. "Aw geez, I'm getting emotional." He sniffled.

"Um, are you alright?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yup!" The man chocked back a sob, "Alright, let's get this started. So first, place your hands on the crystal." He ordered.

"Alright." Jiraiya did as he was told, "Now wha-" He never got to finish, he felt a shocking amount of power being absorbed into him. He was about to let go, but the man held his hands down. A bright light was flashing.

The man shined one last grin, "It was great to see you again, sensei." Jiraiya's eyes widen when he realized the identity of the cloaked man. But the light was shining brighter, he could barely see.

"Wait! Ya-" There was a light explosion, Jiraiya was thrown back, his arms blocking the blinding light. The man was saying something, but over the sound and light, he couldn't hear it. He didn't even know he said anything. After a few agonizing seconds, Jiraiya lowered his arms and cracked open his eyes. The crystal, floating balls of light, and hooded man were gone.

"Oy," The man's voice echoed through the room, "Use your new (And awesome) power to seal Shinju back into Sakura, go through here," A blue door appeared with fancy golden designs, "and you'll find him. Welp, that's it. Bye!" The voice disappeared.

Jiraiya sighed, "Geez." He felt different, after sucking that power he felt, better. Stronger. It was amazing. Anyway, he sort of floated(Flapped like a chicken) toward the door, and opened it to go through. Once he was through, gravity came back for revenge. He plummeted straight down the dark abyss.


	26. The Will Of Fire Lives In Me

"**Ah, finally some peace and-**" Shinju was relaxing, places his roots into the lake of water to 'clean' them.

"aaaaaaaAAAAHHHHH!" Jiraiya landed face first on the ground, twitching. Shinju withdrew his roots, his anger returned.

"**I had enough of you! And I was sure the darkness would've killed you. Oh well,**" Shinju waved his branches threateningly, "**It's always better to kill your enemies face to face.**"

Jiraiya stood and wiped the dirt from his clothes, "Sorry but, I'm not planning on dying today." He made a swirl of handseals, "Katon: Great Fireball!" He blew a giant, fireball. It was bigger than the ones he created, at least three times bigger. He let it loose, Shinju created a wall of water. But the water turned to steam and the fireball hit Shinju's trunk.

"**GAAAH! How dare you sap my power! That fool lead you to the crystal eh? When I get my hands on him-**"

"You wont to anything to my student." Jiraiya had a look of anger and confidence written on his face. He ran forward, the new chakra enhancing his speed. Shinju let out a scream of pure rage as he shot a ball of fire toward Jiraiya. He stopped and slammed his hands on the ground. "Doton: Earth Style Wall!" A thick wall shielded him from the flaming fireball, as it burned out Jiraiya jumped forward and kept going. 'I need to end this quickly, if I run out of chakra, it's over.' He thought.

"**SINK INTO OBLIVION!**" Shinju screamed as a powerful wind attempted to blow Jiraiya off his feat. He was being pushed back a few inches, he looked behind him and saw the black darkness from before behind him. If he was thrown off his feat, then it would be the end.

"No. Not now. This c-can't be the e-end." He groaned as the wind cut his skin and clothes.

"Sensei!" He could fell three pairs of hands pushing on his back. He looked back, there were three young students. One had blue hair and a paper flower in her hair. The other had red hair, and the other had orange hair. He couldn't feel the wind, he couldn't see the darkness. He saw the light.

"Come on sensei! I though you were better than this!" The orange haired on grinned.

"I-I have to a-agree." The one with red hair gave a shy smile.

"Seriously, are you going to let us down?" The blue haired girl asked, her face showed happiness as she giggled. Behind him, he saw a man with a pipe grinning.

"Listen to the children, Jiraiya." The old man came and placed a hand on his back. "Remember the Will of Fire."

"Yeah!" A boy joined, he had light brown hair and rosy colored cheeks, "Are you going to keep my big sister waiting? Tsunade needs you, no matter how many times she rejects you. You gotta stay alive and finish this!"

"Yup," A man with blonde and spiky hair joined in, "You also need to finish your book. It's going to leave a legacy." He had a white robe colored red at the end.

"Don't forget, you need to watch over our son!" A woman with red hair placed her hands on Jiraiya's back. "I wont forgive you if you leave our poor little boy alone by dying right here."

Jiraiya was speechless, before he grinned and nodded, "You're right, I." He looked forward, "Still need to live. For Naruto, Tsunade, Konoha, and Icha Icha." A few of them sweat dropped at the last part. "Now, let's go!" The light cleared away and revealed the battleground. Jiraiya took strong steps forward, fighting against the raging winds.

"**Why wont you just die already?!**" The tree questioned as he sent even more wind that made even deeper cuts.

"'Cuz, I'm not scheduled to die yet." Jiraiya answers as he starts running.

"**Fool!**" Fire formed and Shinju shot a giant fireball at the running sannin, using the wind to boost it's power and size. Shinju let it loose, it didn't leave a corner untouched. It was hurtling itself to the brave shinobi. When the fire cleared, Jiraiya was gone.

Shinju started laughing, "**I win!**"

"Wrong!" A voice said, He looked and saw Jiraiya, hand pulled back, ready to seal Shinju.

"**No**!" But it was too late, Jiraiya placed his hand down on Sakura's stomach. There was a bright light as the darkness at the end of the tunnel disappeared. "**B-but, how?**" Shinju questioned as the light got brighter and brighter.

Jiraiya smirked, "A simple substitution jutsu." Jiraiya simply substituted with one of the rocks laying in front of the tree, while the fire burned the rock to dust. Shinju had his full attention on the fire, not bothering to look down. The wood enveloping Sakura retracted, she slumped into Jiraiya's arms.

"Creeeeeeaaa..." The door behind him was slowly closing, he hung Sakura over her shoulder like a bag of flour and broke off runninng. Shinju didn't even bother to stop him. Jiraiya was almost there, the door was closing and the entrance was getting smaller and smaller. Jiraiya prepared extra chakra in his feet, he jumped...and made it. He landed with a thump on the ground, Sakura's body lay like a dead corpse a few feet away, the abandoned seal paper (That somehow survived the fire) repaired itself and pasted itself on the mouth of the jail. A purple fire burned on the surface of the seal, erasing the writing, until it was a blank sheet.

"Don't think," Shinju's voice was getting weaker and more distant, "This is over, I'll be free. Some day..." Shinju's voice drifted off into nothing. Slowly, the area began dissolving like sand falling through the air.

Konoha:  
"Chidori!" Kakashi yelled, his left hand was now surrounded by lightning, he was prepared to strike one of the monsters running at him, but before he could strike, it turned into dust. Disappearing into the air. Kakashi frantically looked around, he realized all of the beasts were turning to dust. Many started yelling in victory, while others were checking on their loved ones in the shelter, hospital, or on the battlegrounds. Only one thought went through his head as he pushed down his hitai-ate down on his sharingan, 'What the heck.'

Outside Shinju:

The summons were panting, Manda poofed out when he was punched off of the scene. Anko was rescued by Gamabunta and was now kneeling on his head. Tsunade and Katsuyu were drained, they were ready to drop before Shinju stopped dead where he stood. His one eye was wide as he began dissolving into dust. The group watched as Shinju disappeared into nothing, the only things left were Jiraiya and a pink haired girl. They were floating in the air for a few seconds before gravity struck. The two started hurtling toward the ground. Jiraiya was humorously flapping like a chicken, the girl was unconscious as she fell to the ground like a rock. A mysterious figure jumped out from the trees, grabbed the girl around the waist, and teleported away.

"Oh sure, you save her but not me?" Jiraiya yells through the air as he lands in the trees. They could hear his yells of pain as he was hitting branches, then finally landed on the ground with a thud.

"Welp, guess that's over." Gamabunta sheathed his tanto, "I'm getting some sake." He disappeared in white smoke, leaving Anko to fall through the air, and down to the ground.

"Bye." Gamaken said as he poofed.

"See ya!" Gamahiro also poofed away.

"Do you still require my services, Tsunade-sama?" Katsuyu politely asks even though she's ready to drop.

"It's fine, Katsuyu. Thank you." Tsunade bowed as the snail poofed off. Tsunade gracefully flips through the air, and lands on the ground like a cat.

"Ugh. Back to the cell." Shukaku muttered as he dissolved into sand, leaving Gaara to fall through the air.

"Gaara!" Temari yelled, she unfolded her fan and hastily flew up to catch him. She flew back to the ground, where her brother was waiting.

"Temari! Is Gaara alright?" Kankuro asks.

"Yeah, he's fine." Temari answers. Baki jumped from a few nearby trees.

"Come, everyone else is already leaving, we need to follow." Baki orders.

"Hai sensei!" The two each shoulder Gaara and were prepared to run.

"Temari, Kankuro, sensei, I'm sorry." Gaara mutters. The three both look at him with shock, but then the shock turns into a smile.

"It's alright, brother." Temari said before the sand-nin flee the scene.


	27. Shippuden

Akatsuki:

Sakura lay on her bed, her chest indicated she breathed. Her family was in the meeting room. "I call this meeting to order." Pein says to quiet the others.

"Did you know Sakura had Shinju's mind inside of her?" Sasori asked Pein.

Pein sighed, "No, I did not. However, we now know, and must keep a close eye on her. And seeing that Shinju was sealed by Jiraiya, she'll be fine. For a while." He muttered the last part.

"Hmm...So she's like our ultimate weapon." Sasori said.

Pein nodded, "Yes. Now leave." He ordered. Everyone hastily left except for Konan. Pein buried his face in his hands, "How am I supposed to handle this?"

"Nagato. Will Sakura be required, for an extraction?" Konan asked, fear was in her voice.

Pein looked up, "Maybe..."

Konan started tearing, "My baby girl." The two sat silently in the meeting room, knowing Yahiko's daughter's fate.

Tobi stood over Sakura, he smirked under the mask, "The fate of an innocent girl. How amusing." Tobi leaned closer, "Madara-sama wont have any mercy on you, so prepare yourself."

A few days later, Konoha marked Sakura as a missing-nin, they searched her apartment but for some reason it was empty of all belongings(Thank Deidara and Sasori for that). The third hokage's funeral took place, the elders try to appoint Tsunade to become fifth hokage but she refused. But after some convincing(*Cough* Sake) she happily accepted the position. Sasuke realized how weak he was, and left Konoha to Orochimaru. (Pretty sure everyone knows what happened next) The mission was a failure, Naruto left with Jiraiya to train for two and a half years.

Two And A Half Years Later:

Naruto walks through the gates of Konoha, a grin pasted on his face, "Ah," Naruto let out a deep sigh, "It's so good to be back home!" Naruto was running through the streets, waving to many people.

"Naruto nii-chan!" Konohamaru and his friends ran over to greet him. "Guess what!" He sang as their was a poof of smoke where he stood. Out came a naked woman, private parts covered with a thing layer of smoke. Jiraiya had a massive nose bleed as he screamed in delight. He disengaged the jutsu, Konohamaru was grinning.

"So, how was it?" He excitedly asked.

Naruto let out a soft scoff, "Konohamaru, I'm not a child anymore." A look of surprise was pasted on his face. "Besides...That's so lame! Behold, my new and improved perverted jutsu!" In a poof of smoke was...well you get it... Jiraiya reached the max on his pervert bar and fainted, covered in his nose blood. Konohamaru was giggling and cheering on his rival. 'If Sakura or Sasuke were here, they would've scolded me.' Naruto sadly thought.

"Oy, Naruto!" Jiraiya recovered from his unconscious state, he even managed to wash off most of the blood. "We better go." Naruto grinned.

"Alright! Bye, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon." Naruto waved as he and Jiraiya walked toward the hokage's office.

Tsunade was sitting behind a desk. Clutching her head in her hands, "Damn paperwork." She angrily gritted her teeth as her assistant, Shizune stood at her side, holding TonTon.

The door opened and in came Naruto and Jiraiya, "Hey, baa-chan!" A vein popped on Tsunades head.

"Oy, Naruto. I'm not old!" She yelled. Naruto waved it off. "Have you taken care of the necklace?"

"Yep." Naruto pulled out the green crystal hidden safely underneath his jacket. He won it from a bet that happened a week after Tsunade became hokage, "Right here!"

Tsunade's face relaxed, "Good. Anyway, I'm going to have someone test you, he's going to see if your two year trip wasn't a waste of time."

"Cool! Where is he?" Naruto excitedly asked. Tsunade gestured at the window. Naruto jumped out, and saw Kakashi a few feet away from him.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted.

"Kakashi sensei! You're going to lead my test?" Naruto asked.

"Yep." Kakashi answered, not taking his eyes off his book.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me." Naruto rummaged around in his bag and pulled out a book, "Here." It was the amazing, glorious, genius, Icha Icha Tactics. Kakashi's eyes widened as he shoved his book inside his back pocket. He gently caressed the book as he lifted the cover to reveal the first page.

"I didn't understand, plus it was boring." Naruto said. But Kakashi couldn't hear him as he was close to tears.

"That kid doesn't understand a genius piece if it hit him in the face." Jiraiya muttered

"That's enough fooling around! Get going!" Tsunade shouted from her office. Kakashi coughed as he pocketed his new book, leading Naruto to training ground three to start the test.

Akatsuki:

"Sweetie. Do you want some fruit? Kakuzu just bought it." Konan baited a meditating and older Sakura. The truth was, Konan threatened the miser to buy it or else she would burn the whole treasury down. Sakura didn't eat for a straight week, instead she meditated in a dark room, away from the public.

"No mother." Sakura respectively declined, her long pink hair flowing past her shoulders. Over the years, her voice was bland and void of emotion, her face was completely erased of emotion. She no longer attempted fake smiling anymore.

Konan sighed, "Alright." Konan walked down the hallway, holding a plate filled with fruity delights. Tobi was skipping through as he loudly hummed Mary had a Little Lamb. Konan dumped the plate into his arms. "Here."

Tobi squealed, "Thank you, Konan-sama!" Tobi hummed away. Konan let out another deep sigh as she walked away.

Konoha:

"What kind of test am I doing? Kakashi sensei." Naruto asked as he examined the old training ground.

"This." He held out one bell, "The rules are the same, you have until sunrise tomorrow."

Naruto kept examining the environment, "This place...I've missed it."

"Ah, that's right. This is where you first trained, isn't it?" Kakashi said as he magically had his new Icha Icha Tactics book in his hands.

"Team 7..." Naruto muttered, "The three-man team..."

"Hm. Sasuke and Sakura were around too, weren't they?" Silence hung in the air. Kakashi looked up from his book and saw Naruto on the ground, sulking. Something about failing the two of them.

'Sasuke and Sakura's name, are his taboo. Huh.' A sweat dropped from Kakashi face. He loudly closed his book, drawing Naruto away from his depression. "Well then, shall we begin?"

Naruto smirked, "You're not going to read it, Kakashi sensei?"

"No, besides," Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate, "I think I take this a little seriously." His sharingan activated. They stood there, having a stare down. Tsunade and Jiraiya watched from the sidelines.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you something." Jiraiya said.

"I'm not going out with you Jiraiya." Tsunade said. She made out a damn from Jiraiya's mouth.

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you, have you taken on an apprentice?" He asked.

Tsunade sighed, "Yes, but I shouldn't have."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, "Hm?"

"I took up Ami Satsu as an apprentice. But she's irritating, bratty, and spoiled." Tsunade spat out.

"Then why'd you take her as an apprentice?" Jiraiya asked.

"Her parents are high up in the ninja world. And if I declined, they would do something stupid that would affect Konoha. So I was forced into it." Tsunade growled.

"Wow. Couldn't you have hired a second apprentice?"

"I could, but Ami's parents made me swear that I wouldn't take another apprentice as long as I was teaching Ami. What rubbish."

Naruto began his move before Jiraiya could continue his conversation. He launched five shurikens at Kakashi, which he easily avoided. Naruto made clone that launched turned into a windmill shuriken, Naruto was about to turn and strike. But Kakashi caught the hand holding the windmill shurken and pointed it to the back of his head.

"I didn't say go." Kakashi commented. His eye looked back and saw five Naruto clones that held a kunai to his neck. 'Smart. He made five henged clones before hand, after I dodged them he waited for the right moment to switch them back...You really have grown, Naruto.' He thought before he gave an eye smile. "Alright, ready, set, go!" He disappeared in smoke. Naruto frantically looked around, before making another clone.

"Rasengan!" A ball of spiraling chakra formed in the real Naruto's hand as he leaped into the air. "That trick wont work on me! Kakashi sensei!" He yelled as he slammed his rasengan to the ground. It created a somewhat perfect crater, Kakashi unburied himself from the earth.

"Not bad." Kakashi commented. The battle had begun.

A few rasengan, taijutsu, and ninjutsu filled hours later.. It was already dark, Naruto was panting as he leaned against a tree, "Damn. Sensei's strong, but he has to have a weakness." Naruto started to breath in and out slowly, thinking. Before his eyes lit up, "That's it!"

Kakashi was also panting against a tree, "Geez, does this kid ever run out of energy? At this rate, I'll run out of stamina." He straightened his posture, "I wonder...Sasuke, Sakura, what are you doing now?" He wondered as he starred at the star filled sky. He stood as he heard the branches shake behind him, he saw Naruto heading straight toward him.(You know the rest...)

Kakashi opened his eyes and lowered his hands, "What?" He heard a jingle behind him and saw Naruto victoriously holding a bell, grinning.

"I got it, sensei." He sang and did a small victory dance.

A sweat dropped form Kakashi's head, "Good job...Naruto." 'I can't believe I was easily fooled by that.' He depressingly thought before loudly clearing his throat. "Well, congratulations, you passed the test." Naruto let out one last cheer, Kakashi smiled, "I'll see you tomorrow." He waved before disappearing in smoke.

"W-wait! Kakashi sensei, you need to treat me to ramen!" Naruto grumbled as he walked out damaged woods.

Akatsuki:  
"That was easy un." Deidara commented. His clay bird was carrying an unconscious Gaara, his partner Sasori followed.

"Says he man that lost an arm." Sasori muttered.

"Whatever Danna." Deidara comments. The two return to trudging through the desert.

Konoha:  
"Naruto! Ami! The Kazekage's been kidnapped. You two are to go and retrieve him, Ami, you need to heal the Kazekage's brother. He'ss been poisoned, you're going to have to use all your medical training for this moment DON'T FAIL ME." Tsunade glares at the two before looking at Kakashi. "This mission must be an absolute success." Kakashi bows, Tsunade shoo's the new Team 7 out of the room. Tsunade sighs, being Hokage was tiring.

* * *

**Yes, I know I'm hurrying it. Just feeling really excited on writing Shippuden.**

**~Pleasereadmything**


	28. Losing The Battle

A Few Days Later:  
Loud rumbling shook the cave. Everyone was a hologram, except Sasori and Deidara. They were sealing the one tails.

"Hm...They're loud aren't they." Kisame commented.

"Oy! Sakura-chan. Looks like your friends are here un." Deidara comments.

"..." Sakura remained silent as her hologram kept making weird static sounds.

"Shut up Deidara." Konan growled at the bomber. Deidara nodded a sorry.

"We're almost finished, don't get distracted." Pein ordered.

"Sir." Everyone saluted.

'Hmm...Friends?' Sakura wondered.

Outside:

After Ami successfully broke the boulder after five punches(Her strength is weaker than Sakura's in Shippuden), it finally broke apart. They saw a blonde man sitting on Gaara's body, a covered figure with a tail behind them.

"Hmm...Which one of you is the jinchuuriki un?" The blonde asked with a grin.

Naruto growled, "You bastards...I'LL TEAR YOU APART!" He looked down at the dead body, "Gaara! Wake up!"

"Naruto." Kakashi said to silence him.

"Don't you get it? He's dead un." The one sitting watched for his reaction. Naruto's whiskers darkened, her eyes turned blood red, and he grew fangs.

"Give Gaara back you bastards!" Naruto blindly charged at the Akatsuki members. Kakashi slid in front of him to stop.

"Naruto, calm down. Losing control wont bring back Gaara." Naruto's appearance started to shrink back to normal.

The Akatsuki members watched carefully, "I'll take this one." The one with the tail said.

"Danna, don't want to make you angry but, I'll take the jinchuuriki un." The one referred to as 'danna' looked at the man beside him. They started going into a light argument, about the 'true meaning' of art.

"Oy! Don't you dare ignore me!" Ami stupidly yelled.

"Ami!" Kakashi scolded, "Shut up."

The Akatsuki member now had their attention on the Ami, "You know what Deidara. I'm taking on the girl, she needs to learn some manners." Deidara smiled, he directed his bird to swallow Gaara.

"See you later, Danna." Deidara jumped on the bird and directed it to fly through the hole in the wall. Naruto and Kakashi quickly followed.

"Ami, Lady Chiyo. We're leaving Sasori in your hands." Kakashi yelled before he left. Ami started visibly shivering, remembering the number of people he killed.

"Ami, don't be afraid, stay behind me." Ami gladly obeyed. Chiyo then threw a line of kunai at the puppet, but he easily deflected it with his tail. The fabric ripped away to reveal a face, the tail attached to the inside like a tongue.

"Ami, that's a puppet, not the real body. The real body is on the inside." Chiyo said, shocking Ami.

Akatsuki:

Rain poured outside, then again it always rains in Amegakure, "Yo, shrimp. What do you want to eat?" Kisame asked from the kitchen.

Sakura sighed, stepping away from the outside, shaking the water off her cloak, "Leave it. I'll cook something."

Kisame popped his head out from the kitchen, "You don't need to, I can cook."

"We all know that nobody in this organization, except me and mother, can cook. And seeing that she's out right now, I don't want everyone to die from food poisoning." Sakura said as she took the ladle in Kisame's hand.

"Geez, my cooking isn't that bad." Kisame pouted.

"Yes it is," Sakura tied her hair into a ponytail, "The last time we ate you food, Deidara had a piece of live squid choking him from the inside. That required surgery by me. Tobi kept on saying he felt the fish eggs inside him hatching. Leaving everybody paranoid and some requiring therapy. Hidan straight up barfed all over the table." Kisame pouted, but left the kitchen. Sakura sighed as she began chopping carrots, planning to make some curry. She really wanted to stand in the rain, everytime she felt the rain pound her skin, she felt like the water helped washed her sins away. Even though that was impossible. Sakura sighed as she placed the knife down and made a clone. She directed the clone to do the work(Abusing Kage Bunshin) and she walked outside to feel the rain.

Back In The Cave:  
Ami agreed to become Chiyo's puppet. But was now stuck in a fog of poison. Ami couldn't take it anymore, she released her breath, but poison flooded her mouth. Ami felt weak, as she felt string pulling her away. She rolled at Chiyo's feet, the old woman dug in her pocket and pulled out one of the two anitdotes that the Suna medics made. She inserted the antidote into Ami, it was a temporary solution that laster three-five minutes. Ami slowly opened her eyes, she hated being a kunoichi.

Akatsuki:

"Finally, I've been f*cking starving!" Hidan yelled as Sakura clone began placing plates of hot steaming curry on the table. All the members at the base started flooding into the dining room to eat.

"Itadakimasu." The members chorused before digging in. The real Sakura walked in and dispelled her clone, her hair and clothes were soaked but she didn't care. Sakura sat next to Itachi, digging in to the curry.

"When are the f*cking art fanatics going to come?" Hidan rudely asked.

"Knowing them, they'll probably be here in, 20-30 minutes." Itachi answered.

"Has anyone seen Masaru? I haven't seen him since I left Konoha." Sakura asked.

"Well, he might of left before the attack." Kisame thought out loud.

Sakura nodded, "Hmm. That makes sense." She went back to silently eating her curry.

In The Forest:

Masaru lay next to his wife and cubs in a protective manner, "Honey, I've been thinking. Maybe we should go to Amegakure. That's where my master is, and it'll be a safe place to raise the children." The panther looked at her husband, and whimpered. Masaru sighed, "Don't worry, it's not that far away. Only a two-three day journey." His wife was thinking for a few minutes, before nodding her head in agreement. Masaru stood up, picked his cubs up the scruffs of their necks, and directed them to follow. His wife followed behind. Masaru had three cubs. Due to Masaru's shift shaping genes, his children were different species of feline. The first was named Aina, a cute female tiger. Akihiro was a male panther like his mother. And Arata was a male lion. Masaru felt proud of his new family.

In The Cave:  
Ami and Chiyo lost. They were both infected with poison, the weren't even able to break Sasori's outside puppet, Hiruko. "That was pathetic. I expected more from you, Chiyo baa-sama. Then again, if you weren't so busy protecting Ami, you might have had a chance." Chiyo panted as she picked up Ami's frail form. "But I'll give you this prize, use it wisely." Sasori threw a scroll, which Chiyo caught, "It's information on Orochimaru. Why am I giving you this? Because, I hope that I'll have a proper rematch someday." Sasori directed his puppet Hiruko to disappear in a smoke bomb. Chiyo quickly pocketed the scroll, and held Ami's body as she quickly ran to the others.

With The Rest Of The Group:

Naruto, Kakashi, and Team Guy lay waiting in a grass field. Gaara's body was laid gently on the ground, they successfully retrieved his body after a small fight with Deidara. "Where are they?" Muttered Neji. Everyone heard footsteps approaching, they turned to see Chiyo running to them holding Ami's body.

"What happened to her?" Kakashi asked as he took Ami's body and laid her on the grass.

Chiyo shook her head, "We failed. Sasori won, right now we were both poisoned, I had to use the last of the antidote in order to make it here."

"Is she..." Naruto couldn't finished as he stared wide eyed at Ami's body.

Kakashi checked his pulse, before shaking his head, "Too late. If she made it hear a few minutes ago, she'd still be alive." Chiyo hung her head.

"It's all my fault, I should never have suggested using her as a puppet." Chiyo said.

Tear came to Naruto's eyes as his anger was close to exploding, "What about Gaara?" His voice cracked. Chiyo placed her head on Gaara's head, looking for a heart beat, he looked up and shook her head. The tears rolled down Naruto's cheek.

"Why...why Gaara, damn it...He's the Kazekage! He didn't just become Kazekage...only to..." Naruto sobbed.

"Calm down-"Chiyo tried to say.

"SHUT UP!" He yelled in fury. Chiyo's eyes slightly widen, "If you sand-nin didn't hadn't put that monster inside of Gaara, none of this would've happened! Did you ever asked how he felt?! What's a 'jinchuuriki' anyway?! You just arrogantly made up that word to call them!" Naruto was wiping his tears, but he kept sobbing, "I couldn't save Sasuke...or Sakura. And I couldn't save Gaara...for two and a half years, I trained desperately, but nothings changed..." Chiyo was silent before placing her hands on Gaara's chest, her hands glowed a faint blue. She was bringing Gaara back to life.

Somewhere Else:  
Deidara erupted from the dirt, he muttered about how his suicide bomber clone was a fail. "Oy, Deidara." Deidara looked behind him and saw Sasori.

"Oh, Danna. I for sure thought you died un." Deidara walked over.

"Hmph. Those fools couldn't land a good scratch on me. What happened to you arm?" Sasori asked.

Deidara looked down, "Oh, stupid sharingan un." He muttered. Sasori walked past him.

"Hurry up, I want to get back and make more puppets. I'm expecting a rematch in the future." Deidara quickly followed.

"Um, Danna. I'm going to need help finding my arm un." Deidara said.

"Do it yourself."

In The Forest:

Tobi was examining a severed arm, "No way! They got Deidara-sempai. Guess he died in the explosion." Tobi giggled.

"Let go of my hand you little sh*t un!" Deidara yelled. Tobi and Zetsu looked back and saw Deidara and Sasori walking through the bushes.

Tobi gasped, "Oh! You're alive!"

"What happened to the **jinchuuriki**?" Zetsu asked.

"Already finished my mission un." Deidara said.

"Wow, sempai is weak." Tobi commented.

"Oy, Tobi. Shut up un." Deidara growled.

"Besides! Only way you're going to kill Tobi is by blowing Tobi up!" Tobi cheerfully added.  
"No, I have another method of killing." Deidara tackled Tobi to the ground and choked Tobi's throat with his legs, "Suffocation!" Tobi was struggling and waving his arms frantically.


	29. Patience

Naruto and Kankuro were shouldering a revived but weak Kazekage through the desert, back home. Chiyo and Ami were carried on stretchers, their bodies wrapped in plastic. If only they could hear and see the villagers shouts of rejoice.

Akatsuki:

"Oy! Sakura-chan! I need you to stitch my arm back un!" Deidara yelled as he, Sasori, Tobi, and Zetsu walked through the door. Sasori was out of his puppet costume and was walking on his own feet.

Sakura poked her head out from the kitchen, just finishing the last of the dishes. She takes a good look at the arm in Tobi's hand. She sighs, "Alright. Sit on the couch."

Tobi started to play with the arm, "Look, Sakura-chan!" Sakura turned to see Tobi holding up a flashlight to the maimed hand. Twisting it so that it made shadow puppets, "I made a cow!"

Deidara kicked him high on his head, "STOP PLAYING WITH MY ARM UN!"

Tobi squirmed on the ground, holding his injured spot, "AH! TOBI HURT!"

Sakura sighed and looked up at the roof as if asking, why?

Konoha:

Tsunade glared out of the window, her apprentice died(Only affected her a little bit) Sasori of the Red Sand survived, and Lady Chiyo died. But the mission was a success, the Kazekage was brought back home. Tsunade ran a hand through her messy blonde hair. Akatsuki was on the move.

Akatsuki:

"There, done." Sakura snapped the medical kit shut.

Deidara slowly flexed his fingers, before making a tight fist, "Thanks un."

"YAY!" Tobi jumped up and down, apparently healed from his suffering wound, "Sempai can play with Tobi now!" Tobi started hugging Deidara.

"GET OFF OF ME UN!" Deidara kicked Tobi again.

"OWWIE!" Tobi exclaimed as he twitched on the ground. Deidara stomped off, leaving a blank faced Sakura and a wounded Tobi.

Konoha Next Day:

Tsunade was reading over the scroll Naruto handed to her after Chiyo died. Explaining that Sasori gave it to Chiyo and Ami, telling them he had a spy in Orochimaru's organization. Tsunade knit her eyebrows together, before calling Shizune. Telling her to summon Shikaku, she needed help on this.

Akatsuki:

"I'm hungry un!" Deidara yelled.

Konan looked at Deidara, "Not my problem." Deidara noticed the sad look on Konan's face.

"Oy, what's the matter un?" Deidara asked in a softer tone.

Konan sighed, "It's Sakura. She's the same as always, staying in her room, only leaving when it's raining and when it was time to eat." Outside they heard thunder crackled before drops splatting on the window. Sakura was walking out of the hallways and heading outside, wanting to 'clean' her sins. Konan sighed again as she heard the door slam. "I don't know what to do."

"Hmm, how about you assign her a mission so that she can cool off?" Deidara suggested.

Konan's eyes slightly lit up, "That's a great idea. I need to go to Pein-sama!" She exclaimed before hurriedly leaving in a blur of paper.

Deidara scoffed, "Doesn't even give me a thank you un." He muttered as he trudged to the kitchen. But was stopped by-

"Sempai! Play with Tobi!" Tobi screamed as he hugged onto Deidara's leg.

"W-What the! GET THE F*CK AWAY TOBI UN!" Deidara tried to shake Tobi off.

Konoha:  
"Do you think we can trust this?" Tsunade asked their number one genius, Nara Shikaku.  
The Nara hmmed a few times, "Yes, I believe we can trust this scroll."

Tsunade sighed, "If that's true, then we only have this one last chance. Thank you Shikaku-san." Shikaku gave a lazy nod before walking out of the room. Leaving Tsunade to plan.

Akatsuki:  
"A mission?" Pein looked up from his pile of paper.

"Yes." Konan stood in front of his desk, "Maybe a mission will help snap Sakura back into reality."

Pein considered this thought, "Who would she go with?"

"Me of course." Konan answered.

"Oh no." Pein leaned forward, "Remember that mission with the Earth's Daimyo's uncle?"

Konan let out a huff, "He deserved it! He kept sending revolting winks and flirts at Sakura (Which she was happy to say, Sakura ignored them all) He even pinched her butt, sure Sakura was going to let it slide but I had do something!"

"You traumatized him for life. He's not going to do business with us for a long time. Even if he deserved it." Pein quickly added.

Konan pouted, "Fine. But who's going to go with her then?"

"She'll go alone." Pein answered.

Konan looked at Pein with surprise, "What! She can't go alone!"

Pein massaged the bridge of his nose, "You can't keep babying her. She needs to learn to survive away from her family." Konan was about to open her mouth to protest. But she silently agreed with the idea.

"Fine, but what kind of mission?" Konan eyes narrowed.

"Don't worry, it'll be a simple retrieval mission in the land of the waves. She'll be fine."

Konan sighed before sniffling, "My poor baby." Pein got up and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Sakura POV:

I'm tired of living. Shinju torments me with unimaginable pain, it hurts. Why? Why me? Why did I have to bear this burden, why do I have to be Akatsuki's princess?

Konoha:

Naruto was at the gate, along with Sai(Naruto just met him and didn't like him already. Sai kept calling Naruto 'Dickless' and he found no humor in that), and Yamato. A friend of Kakashi's that'll fill in while he recovers in the hospital. He looked at the dirt road ahead of him, he swore that he'll bring back Team 7 two and a half years ago, and he'll do it. Even if it kills him.

Akatsuki:

"Damn, if only one of them died." Tobi muttered as he leaned on the wall of Zetsu's room.

"You'll have to wait." Zetsu commented, "But it's a pain that your not a real member yet. **We'll have to drag you around with us.**" It was true, Tobi wasn't a real member seeing that he didn't have a ring. (He took Sasori's when he died in the storyline)

"If only I could kill one of them in their sleep. That'll stop the wait." Tobi's fist clenched into a tight fist, stretching his leather gloves.

"Patience. **Who gives a damn about that?** I do. **Shut up. **Ah." White Zetsu frowned sadly as Black Zetsu was...well Black Zetsu.

"Whatever." Tobi stomped out of the room and rudely slammed the door.

'**I'm going to enjoy his death along with Madara's once Mothers back.**' Black Zetsu evilly thought.

* * *

**Finally! Since school's started, I've been busy like heck. Thank you for waiting, just a reminder school will be affecting my uploading speed. **

**~Pleasereadmything**


	30. Sink Problems

Time Skip Land Of Waves:

It took Sakura a few days to arrive to a well guarded mansion, her mission? Retrieve a stolen scroll. Did it have to be silent? Sakura unsheathed a kunai. No.

Orochimaru's Hideout:

Naruto, Sai, and Yamato looked up at Sasuke standing on the cliff. His stoic face examined the three.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, "Come back with us!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto, "No."

Land Of Waves:

After beheading all the living souls of the household, and retreiving the scroll, Sakura was headed back home. Before a sight stopped her, Sakura retraced her steps backward and saw a magestic waterfall. She walked over, unhooked her cloak, hiding her supplies, then started meditating under the waterfall. The water pounded on her head, but she didn't feel it. Instead, she was plunging deeper into the darkness. She opened her eyes and found herself in a cell room, behind the bars was a tree. Fire burned on the torches in the walls.

"**You...What do you want now child**?" Shinju's voice echoed across the empty room. During the past two and a half years, Sakura gained a 'friendly' relationship with Shinju. What classifies as 'friendly' is not attmepting to kill her, but instead send enormous amount of pain in it's place.

"Nothing. I just needed a place to rest. Sakura commented as she walked to the back, where the clear small lake lay. She walked in, not minding the temperature, and began floating on the surface. Her back imbedded in the cold substance.

"**Hm...**" Shinju hummed as his branches twisted and turned in excitement, "**Interesting...**"

"What?" Sakura asked without opening her eyes.

"**I see your death.**" Shinju said.

Konoha:  
Naruto was downcast that he failed the mission. He was returning with a tired Yamato, and a blank faced Sai.

"Naruto-" Sai was about to speak before Yamato stopped him, giving him a look saying to give him some time. Sai obliged and stepped back, walking behind Yamato.

Naruto kept walking with his head to the ground, a small drop of water dropped from his eyes, "Damn." He muttered.

Akatsuki:

"Sempai!" Tobi cried from the kitchen. Deidara was sitting in the living room, Tobi called over and over but Deidara ignored his cries.

"What the hell is that noise?" Hidan demanded to know, he stomped out from the hallway.

"Tobi." Deidara simply answered.

"SHUT THE F*CK UP TOBI!" Hidan yelled.

"Sempai!" Tobi cried again.

"THAT'S IT!" Hidan yelled as he went into the kitchen and looked for the masked fool. "WHERE ARE YOU! SHOW YOURSELF YOU F*CKING BASTARD!" He looked all around, Tobi wasn't anywhere in the kitchen. Hidan looked in the refrigerator, trash can, when he went to search for the cookie jar, it wasn't there. "Don't tell me that idiot got his hand stuck in the cookie jar again." He muttered as he noticed the dirt that collected on his hands. Sakura was in charge of cleaning, but she forget to clean before she left. Hidan cursed before heading toward the sink. He didn't want his hands to be dirty when he performs his next sacrifice. As the water poured out it went down the drain, but then he heard a scream.

"AHHH! TOBI COLD!" A voice screamed from the sink. Hidan jumped back, the water was still running. The water started out cold, before it started heating. It always took a few seconds before the hot water started working, "AHHH! TOBI BURNING!" Hidan inched forward, and quickly turned the faucet and pulled his hand back. As if expecting a mouth to come out and bite him. Hidan slowly looked down the drain, and saw a bit of orange shining below. A vein popped on his forehead.

"TOBI YOU F*CKING IDIOT!" Hidan screamed.

Pein's Office:  
"Let me get this straight. Tobi somehow got stuck in the sink." Pein rephrased.

"Exactly." Hidan answered.

Pein was silent before he leaned back in his chair, "Well...that's...new."

"What now?" Hidan asked.

Pein went back to his paperwork, "Get him out. However," He looked Hidan dead in the eye, "If you cause any mass property damage, you'll have to answer to me, Kakuzu, and Sakura." Hidan slightly shivered, before nodding and leaving the room. Pein took in the moment of silence before leaning back into his chair, "A sink?"

Kitchen:

"Tobi is in an uncomfotable position! Could someone please get Tobi out?" Tobi voice echoed from the drain. Hidan got the rest of the Akatsuki members, that were in the base, to come. Konan however was elsewhere. And Zetsu didn't bother coming, he simply muttered idiot as he slammed the door in Hidan's cursing face.

"How do we get him out un?" Deidara asked.

"How did he even get in?" Kisame asked.

"I don't know! I wasn't f*cking here!" Hidan yelled.

"We need to get him out, without causing any damage. If that happens, we'll have to replace it, and replacing costs money." Kakuzu said.

"Hm." Itachi hummed, before he left the kitchen.

Deidara's vein popped, "Fine! Abandon us you useless baka!"

"Tobi need help!" Tobi whined.

"You know what!" Deidara stuffed his hand inside his clay pouch and brought out a clay ant, "I'm just gonna blow the sucker un!" Kisame held him back.

"You can't do that, you'll hurt him." Kakuzu warned, "And it'll cost me money."

"Aw," Tobi sighed, "Kakuzu-san cares for Tobi. So he's not a self centered, greedy old man" Nobody noticed the Tobi's voice shift for a few seconds. Kakuzu wasn't amused, now the present Akatsuki members had to hold back a crazed bomber, and an angered string puppet from destroying the sink.

Tobi's POV Before The Incident:

This is possibly the worst day in my life. After I talked with Zetsu, I was in a bad mood, so I went to the kitchen to get a cookie. No, I wasn't going to eat it, I was going to stuff the cookie into the DVD slot in the TV to make others suffer. But just when I had my hand in the jar, there was a small flash of light and I found myself in this predicament. Sure, I could've easily broken out, but turns out my hand was stuck in the jar by some special glue(No doubt Sakura's work), and ion the bottom of the jar there were two seals. One was to transport me into the sink, the other was a chakra stopper. It stopped my flow of chakra, which rendered me unable to perform jutsu's and use my sharingan. So I did the only thing I could think of.

"Sempai!" I cried in my Tobi voice. Now I had to wait for those idiots to come rescue me.

**Poor Tobi...**

**~Pleasereadmything**


	31. Dying Akatsuki

Sakura's POV:  
Hmm...I see the Akatsuki crowding around the sink, with a screaming Tobi repeatedly calling for help, and Hidan telling him to shut up. It seems my trap worked. I sighed as I hung my coat on the coat hanger by the door, might as well help them. I took one step before I heard thunder, rain started pattering down on the windows. I took a second, what should I do, go out in the rain or help Tobi. I stood there for a second, before taking my coat and heading outside. I'll check in with Pein-sama later, and they can handle themselves.

One Week Later:

After the sink incident, Tobi learned to not put his hand in the cookie jar. A very important lesson. Anyways, Hidan and Kakuzu left a few hours ago to meet someone. In Akatsuki terms it means, gather information then assassinate. Sakura was standing out in the rain, leaving an angered Tobi in his room.

"I hate these people." He muttered. An hour later, Kakuzu and Hidan came walking through the door, accompanied by a wet Sakura.

"I DAMNIT HATE F*CKING KONOHA NINJAS!" He yelled as he stomped to his room. Leaving Kakuzu with the money. Sakura just sighed before heading to her room, Kakuzu decided to visit the kitchen for some water.

Big Time Skip, Akatsuki:

"TOBI CAUGHT TURTLE!" Tobi yelled as he sat on top of the Sanbi's head. Akatsuki was outside, inspecting the unconscious and near death turtle.

"I CAUGHT IT UN!" Deidara yelled in Tobi's ear, then kicked him off the head. Sakura sighed and went back to her room, planning to meditate until Pein called her.

Time Skip, Sakura POV:  
They died, the zombie duo, the annoying pair, my uncles. They died. Hidan was blown to pieces, Kakuzu died at the hand of Uzumaki Naruto and Hatake Kakashi. Words gotten out that Uchiha Sasuke defeated Orochimaru, so many dead... Heh. I wonder, who's next?

In The Forest:

"Geez, that idiot." Tobi muttered as he walked through a giant crater. He avoided the broken and burning tree's as he examined the battleground. "That idiot Deidara got himself killed. Oh well, one less member that'll annoy me."

Zetsu merged from the ground, "Tobi. **We have your answer.**"

Tobi turned, "Oh really? Tell me."

"She's weakening. **Shinju and Sakura are rejecting each other, which only causes Sakura to weaken.**" Zetsu said.

"How long does she have?" Tobi asked.

Black Zetsu smirked, "**Not that long**."

Akatsuki:

Sakura coughed out even more blood as she stood over the sink, the warm liquid dripped down her chin. It was getting worse and worse, Deidara died and Itachi was going to confront Sasuke. Sakura shook these thoughts away as she grabbed a towel and started wiping the blood, when she finished she looked in the mirror. In everyone's eyes, they saw a regular teenage girl. But they didn't see the monster inside.

With Tobi:

"Haha! Konoha-nin can't touch Tobi! Na na na na na na~" Tobi sang as Naruto emerged from the pond at the back, after his failed attempt at hitting the masked man, Tobi kicked him into the pond. There was a large flash of light, everyone but Tobi covered their eyes. They opened them to see a familiar face.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto screamed. Everyone stared wide eyed at their friend/student, Sakura didn't even spare them a glance as she looked at Tobi, who was on his knee's and screaming in agony.

"I told you Tobi, cover your eyes when I use that technique." Sakura said in a monotone.

"TOBI IS FEELING THE PAIN AND TOBI DOESN'T LIKE IT!" Tobi screamed as he was on his knees.

Sakura was silent for a few seconds before speaking again, "The battle is over. Uchiha Sasuke won."

"Really?" Tobi popped back up to his feet, forgetting about the pain, "Tobi did not see that coming." Tobi turned toward the Konoha-nin, darkness filled his voice, "Not, Tobi knew all along." Tobi giggled as he grabbed Sakura and the two jumped from the group.

"WAIT!" Naruto shouted but was stopped by a figure coming out of the ground.

"Wh-what's that?" Hinata stuttered. Out came Zetsu, in his plant like glory.

Kakashi glared, "Seeing that he's wearing Akatsuki clothing, he's one of them."

Naruto growled, his patience was breaking, "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" He yelled as he charged Zetsu.

Akatsuki:

Tobi finished setting Sasuke in his room, after his wonderful 'talk' he left Sasuke there to think things through. Tobi encountered Sakura in the hallway. "Sakura-chan!" He excitedly waved as he ran over.

"What Tobi?" Sakura blankly looked at the over energetic member of Akatsuki.

"Are you going to see Sasuke-kun?" Tobi asked.

Sakura didn't looked fazed as she lied, "No, I'm going to see Pein-sama."

Tobi put an arm around Sakura's shoulders, "But Sakura-chan! Sasuke-kun has the chance of becoming a new member! So why-"

"Tobi, you don't lower your arm, I am going to do what people call 'castrating'." Sakura said, "Please lower your arm." Tobi slowly withdrew his arm, Sakura walked down the hall, not noticing Tobi's glaring sharingan eyes.

Pein's Office:

Pein decided, he would attack Konoha. He may be worn after his battle with the toad sannin, but he wanted this to end now.

"Pein-sama. I think it's time to tell Sakura who her father is." Konan said out of the blue.

Pein looked at her with a face of shock, "What?"

Konan looked him in the eye, "We need to tell her."

Pein looked away, "Nothing will change if we tell her."

"I know but-" Konan bit her lip.

Pein sighed as he rested a hand on Konan's shoulder, "Konan, if you really want it that much, we'll tell her after I come back. Alright?"

Konan smiled, "Thank you, Nagato." She watched as her friend walked out of the office, leaving her with the sounds of a thunder and lightning storm.

Outside In Ame, Sakura's POV:

Beautifull, the lightning shining across the cloud filled sky, the thunder sound echoing throughout the empty streets. Rain was amazing. However, instead of wanting to wash my sins away, I headed toward the river. When I got there, I stared at the strong and hazardous current, threatening me to come closer. I reach into my cloak and pull out a strong wooden boat, handcrafted by me using Mokuton, the chakra enhanced wood will last against the weather. I took one last look at it, the names of my family scratched in as a memory. I lower the boat into the water, watching it float on the current, letting it carry it to who knows where. I look up at the sky, God was crying for me.

After The Battle, No One's POV:  
Konan carried Nagato and Yahiko's body in the special paper, before resting them on the ground. She looked at them one last time before she headed outside, carrying a scroll filled with thousands of explosive tags. She was going to bring Uchiha Madara down.

Same Time, With Sakura:  
Sakura coughed out more blood onto the ground, she was outside training, and waiting for her mother and Pein-sama to come. But it's already been a while, where were they? Sakura wiped her mouth before quickly whipping out a kunai and pointing it at...Tobi.

"What do you want?" She asked, her voice was poisonous.

Tobi just stood there, mask pointed at Sakura's face, "It's time for you to die, _Sakura-chan~_"

**Nearing the end...**

**~Pleasereadymything**


	32. What A Tree Needs In Order To Grow

Tobito POV:

It was so familiar, I felt like I was Kakashi stabbing through...Rin...It was too easy, sliding my chakra enhanced hand through her heart, it was too fast...so much blood...Rin...

The Land Of Nowhere:  
Sakura opened her eyes, and was encountered by white, she groaned as she sat up. Sakura scanned her surroundings, before jumping forward and quickly turning around. A cloaked figure stood right in front of her.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

The man was silent as he walked forward, which only caused Sakura to walk back, "I'm not going to hurt you." He said as he took off his hood. "I wouldn't hurt my daughter." Sakura's eye's widen.

Konan And Tobito's Battle:

Konan panted in the rain as she heard the explosion of the trap she set, she did it. She finally killed 'Madara'. Konan smiled, but was stopped by a kunai to her neck. Her eyes fearfully turned to see 'Madara' iwht a half broken orange mask. "Y-you..." She lost her voice, 'Madara' simply glared at her.

"Do you want to know something? You're cursed," 'Madara' growled, "Everyone and everything you touch dies. First, Yahiko-"

"Stop it!" Konan cried.

"-Then Nagato-"

Tears slid down Konan's eyes, "Stop it!"

"-Jiraiya, your own sensei." Konan couldn't find her voice to tell him to stop. "Akatsuki, the organization that your lover and best friend worked for...and your daughter." Konan's eyes widen before she glared at Tobi.

"What did you do to her?" Konan said with killing intent leaking from her words.

"Well... Let's just say that she joined her father and uncle sooner than expected..."Konan's eyes widen, "And," Tobi held the kunai closer to her neck, "So will you."

"SLASH!" The kunai ended Konan of Amegakure's life.

An Hour Later, With Tobito POV:

I groaned as I clutched my eye, the transaction hurted like crazy, "Ugh..." I groaned.

"Oy, **I thought you needed Sakura for the plan**?" Zetsu asked, curious.

"Yeah, but then I(And Madara-sama) realized that we only needed the body, if we connected it's mind, it'll no doubt go crazy. Seeing that it has a sharingan/rinnegan, it'll be extremely difficult to take control of. However, if we left Sakura alive, if she found out our plan, she could easily have Shinju take back it's body by having it control from it's brain." Tobi then concluded, "So she needed to be killed."

Zetsu nodded then said, "**Sasuke** wanted to see you."

Tobi sighed as he walked to the door, "I'm tired."

Back In The Land Of Nowhere:

"...So you see, then we had you." Yahiko explained as his daughter had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Hmm..." Sakura hummed.

Yahiko looked down at the ground, "I know, I've never been there for you. But I'm telling you, you're my daugh-Where are you going?" Yahiko looked up only to find his daughter walking away from him, he started running after her, "Oy! Where ya going?"

"I don't believe you're my father." Sakura simply said, not even sparing a glance as she continued walking.

Yahiko cried fake tears, "Konan, our daughter doesn't believe me!" He cried as he fell on his knees.

"Wimp." Sakura kept walking.

"WAAH!" Yahiko cried before actually realizing how pathetic he looked, then he cleared his throat, "You can choose to believe me or not, but time is slow here. Who knows, an hour here could equal a day passing back in the world of the living."

Sakura stopped, then turned back to face Yahiko, "Tell me, where's Shinju?"

Yahiko stood up and brushed the imaginary dirt of his knees, "You tell me."

"What do you mean?"

Yahiko shrugged, "Your his host, where did you last put him?"

"He was stuck in his cell, where he belonged." Sakura muttered.

Yahiko put an arm around Sakura's shoulders, "Then we're going to the cell!"

Outside:  
"BRING THEM BACK!" Sasuke yelled at his former teammate and sensei, "BRING MY FAMILY AND SAKURA BACK! KONOHA KILLED THEM ALL!"

Naruto's eyes widen, "Sasuke, Konoha didn't kill Sak-"

But Kakashi had to drag Naruto to the side to avoid a fire jutsu, 'Talking wont work on him anymore, he's fallen to deep into the darkness.'

Sakura's Dying Mind:

Sakura opened her mind, seeing a cage in front of her, with Yahiko right next to her. "I thought that when the host dies, the demon dies." Sakura said.

"Yeah, but Shinju's one tough cookie, he's trying to perserve his last few minutes of living. But only one person can revive him," Yahiko looked at Sakura, "You can."

Sakura's eyes widen, "No amount of medical jutsu's can-"  
"I'm not talking about medical jutsu." Yahiko looked past the bars, and stared at the dying tree. It was more dry than it was before, it's green leaves turned yellow/brown and fell on the floor, and the trunk had many cracks. The flower on top wilted and sagged. "Sakura, what does a tree need in order to grow?"

"Water, Soil, Oxygen, and some light." Sakura answered.

"That's not what I'm talking about, but you're close." Yahiko walked forward.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Then what does a tree need in order to grow?"

Yahiko sighed as he stared at the dying being, "It needs water for nourishment, earth for a home, air to breathe, a bit of fire for warmth, a jolt of lightning to start it's life, and," Yahiko looked back and grinned at Sakura, "Love from it's owner." Yahiko reached toward the seal, and ripped it off. The door's swung wide open, Yahiko gesture to Sakura. "Revive Shinju, my daughter." Sakura was silent, before walking into the cell.

"**Why are you here, brat**?" Shinju asked as his branches weakly waved, "**Come to enjoy my suffering before you and I both die**?"

Sakura remained silent as she walked toward the trunk and placed her hand on it, "I'm sorry."

If Shinju's tree form had eyes, it would have been wide. "**What?**"

Sakura ignored what he said, "I've been rejecting you, you...must've been scared, all this time huh?"

The ground softly shook, "**I AM NOT SCARED OF ANYTHING!**" Sakura didn't look fazed.

"No, your scared. The ancestors of the ninja took your power for themselves, no one's been there for you, to comfort you in your time of sadness. Without an owner to guide and help you, you turned your sadness into anger, making others fear you, when you were actually afraid of them." Shinju remained quiet, "I speak for myself first, I'm sorry. Now I speak for everyone residing in the Elemental Nations, I'm sorry...But please, help us."

Shinju remained quiet, "**I...Will help. But this will be the last time.**" He said before there was a huge burst of light, in Shinju's place was a seed that could fit the palm of Sakura's hand.

"Wh-what did I do!" Sakura panicked.

Yahiko walked forward and placed a reassuring hand on Sakura's shoulder, "It's alright, you're giving Shinju another chance." Yahiko bent down, dug a small hole with his hands, and placed the seed inside. "Remember, the body may be destroyed, but the heart and mind will forever stay." He said before covering the hole with dirt. Yahiko stood up and wiped away the actual dirt sitting on his pants, "You know what to do now." Sakura nodded. On each finger tipped, the five different elements formed. Water on the thumb, a small flame burned on the index finger, a small tornado formed on the third, a small spark buzzed on the fourth, and a floating pebble formed on the pinky. She slammed the elements into the spot where Shinju was buried. There a loud hiss, before a small sprout poked out from the earth. Yahiko smiled, "Now all it needs is time and love, soon he'll be back to how he was in the beginning. But first," Yahiko put a hand around Sakura's shoulders, "There's one more person you need to visit."

"Who?" Sakura asked. Yahiko leaded Sakura out of the cell, leaving it open, a pink flower patterned door formed in front of them. The door slightly creaked open. Sakura walked forward and widely opened it, there was nothing but darkness there. "What-" Sakura was about to question before Yahiko pushed her in, leaving her to fall through the abyss of darkness.

**Who do you think Sakura's going to meet?**

**~Pleasereadmything**


	33. Connection

If she screamed, she couldn't hear it. If she splat into a million pieces, she didn't feel it. If she saw her life flash before her eyes, she didn't see it. Nothing, she was falling through an abyss of nothing.

"Hello?" A small, timid, and weak voice called from the darkness.

_Hello? _Sakura thought, she couldn't open her mouth or eyes as she was falling through the dark hole. However, her thoughts echoed through the darkness.

"I've been waiting for you." The voice echoed, it sounded both angered and sad, but mostly hurt.

_Really? I'm sorry. _Sakura didn't know why, but her tone made her want to get down on her hands and knee's and beg for forgiveness.

The voice giggled, "It's ok. Where were you?"

_I...I don't know...  
_"Ok, then where are you now?"

_I don't know, can you tell me?_

"How am I supposed to know?" The voice giggled again.

_Heh, I have a messed up mind if I can't even tell where I am, and who you are._

"Nonsense! Even the messiest of minds, can be fixed with a gentle touch."

_Really?...Then can fix me?_

"That depends, will you accept me?"

_Huh?_

"During the implants of the Byakugan, Sharingan, and Rinnegan. You made a choice you can't remember." The voice explained.

_What choice?_

"The choice of being able to use the three dojutsu's in exchange for me, or you could've kept me and let the dojutsu implantation fail."

_Oh...wait, who are you?_

"It's not important if you don't accept me."

_I-_

"Wait! If you accept me, the dojutsu's will reject you, then you'll lose the three forever, including..."

_Including what? _I ask, sensing the hesitation in her voice.

"The dojutsu's...will also take away your sight." She revealed.

Sakura felt the pressure put onto her shoulders, if she absorbed the voice in the dark, she'll lose her power. Was it really worth it?

"I understand if you don't-"

But she already had her answer, Sakura worked up the strength and reached out her hand, grasping another's. The darkness was blown out of the abyss, letting the light shine in. Sakura smiled as she looked up at the source of the voice. "You're coming back home, with me." Sakura found her voice and sight back

The source of the voice was shocked, before tears flowed down it's face, "Th-thank you..." The source sniffled before wiping away the tears, "I've waited for someone to come and find me, Sakura-san."

Sakura also smiled, "Thank you for waiting for me, Sakura-chan."

The little girl version of Sakura giggled, "That sounds weird, can you call me...um..."

"Inner?" Sakura suggested.

Inner smiled, "Yeah! Come on!" She giggled as she dragged/floated Sakura by her hand, out of the bright hole. Sakura was reunited with her emotions, but she already feeling her vision starting to blur away. 'Naruto, Sasuke, looks like I wont be able to see your faces anymore, if only I could see them now, one last time...' A single tear escaped her eyes as they glazed over, Haruno Sakura was now forever blind.

Naruto's Location:

Naruto stared at the starry sky, watching the stars flutter around in the sky, "U-um, N-naruto-kun?" Naruto turned and found Hinata behind him.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

"You're c-crying, are you s-sad?" Hinata shyly asked.

"What?" Naruto asked bewildered, he put a hand to his eyes, as Hinata said, tears were flowing down his face. "Oh." Naruto started to wipe the tears away, "I don't know why I'm crying, I'm not even sad." Naruto sighed before looking back up at the stars. "Hinata, do you want to join me?" Hinata madly blushed but waved some of the blush off her face.

"I'd love to, N-naruto-kun." She sat beside Naruto, not too close but not too far, she looked up and watched the stairs along with her life long crush.

Sasuke's Location:

Sasuke watched the stars from a grassy hill, watching the stars flicker in and out. Before he felt something wet slide down his cheeks. His eyebrow's furrowed with confusion as he wiped away the tears. It was strange, he wasn't sad, he stared back at the sky. He better not have an emotional connection with dobe...he preferred Sakura.

**Sorry that it's short.**

**~Pleasereadmything**


	34. Sakura's Revival

"So, you made it." Yahiko cooly said as he laid back on the wall, right next to the open door. Out walked Sakura, a weird glow surrounded her.

"Yeah..." She muttered, before punching Yahiko in the face. He fell to the ground clutching his now broken face, crying.

"What was that for?" He whimpered.

"For pushing me into that abyss." A vein popped on Sakura's head as she cracked her knuckles, but then she stopped. "So this is what anger feels like...it feels...weird."

"Yup, now that you got your mini minion back-" That earned him a kick to the stomach, "Gaah! Anyway...you now have your emotions. But you don't have-"

"My sight." Sakura answered, she waved her hands in front of her glazed eyes. She could feel the air hitting her face, she could hear her hand slicing through the air, taste the chakra leaking out of her palm, smell her skin, but she couldn't see. "Yeah, it's gone..." But a grin broke her frown, "At least I can feel like a normal human again."

Yahiko smiled, 'Konan, our daughter is finally feeling happy. Nagato, thank you for watching over her in my place.' "Alright," Yahiko popped to his feet, not caring about his broken nose, "Now, we only have one more problem to face."

"What?" Sakura asked.

Yahiko grinned, "We need to find a way to bring you back to life!"

Sakura's eye twitched, "You mean...after all I've been through..you NEVER BOTHERED FINDING A WAY TO BRING ME BACK TO LIFE?!"

Yahiko cowered in a corner, "Well... I thought that when Shinju grew back into a tree, he could help bring you back to life...but I sort of miscalculated how long it would take...and I was hoping you and I could find a different way out..." He drifted off and shrunk under his daughter's killing intent.

"_You are an idiot._" Sakura growled before she sighed, "Guess we'll have to wait." She glanced over at Shinju's cell, he was now a small sapling, yep...it would take awhile.

On The Battlefield, Kaguya vs Sasuke and Naruto:

Sasuke and Naruto launched themselves at a falling Kaguya, who was injured from Kakashi's raikiri. But then Kaguya launched herself upward, trying to avoid being sealed.

'Damn it!' Sasuke and Naruto both thought, they were going to miss Kaguya completely.

"SHANNARO!" They spared a glance upward and saw a pink haired kunoichi punching Kaguya downward, they didn't notice their hands touching Kaguya.

"Sakura!" They both yelled in surprise. There stood their supposed to be dead teammate, wearing her Akatsuki clothing, scratched Konoha forehead protector in her long bubblegum pink hair, a determined look on her face.

"**Oy, brat. What's with the 'Shannaro?**'" A newly revived Shinju mentally asked Sakura.

Sakura mentally shrugged, 'It sounded nice.'

Shinju scoffed, "I think I liked you better when you didn't have those stupid emotions."

_'What did you say!' _Demanded the cute child called Inner. Sakura ignored the arguing twosome as she focused on the battle. Shinju's physical body began separating itself from the other biju.

_'Ew...You're so ugly...'_ Inner whined.

Shinju growled angrily, "**You little...**"

But then a lion like form coughed out Uchiha Madara, who lay dead on the ground. The earth was starting to be absorbed into a ball in the sky as Sasuke, Sakura, and Kurama landed on the ground. Naruto had something to do.

"Where's Naruto?" Kakashi asked Sasuke before looking at Sakura, "S-Sakura?" Sakura didn't respond, instead she merely rolled her eyes as she took lead in running away. The others quickly followed. The group stopped to somewhat admire the giant rock floating upward.

"It's getting bigger..." Kakashi commented.

"It's over." Sasuke sighed.

Naruto landed from out of nowhere and gave a thumbs up, "Alright! Sealed! Now everyone can live happily!"  
"Yeah..."Kakashi muttered before realization struck, "Um, Naruto...How are we supposed to get out this dimension?" Kakashi asked with a sweat drop.

Silence hung in the air, it took Naruto a full five seconds to register those words, "EEEHHHHH!"

"Even though he's our savior, he's a bit stupid." Son Goku (Four Tail biju) said to Kurama.

Kurama sweatdropped, "Yeah..."

Out of nowhere, the previous kages and a few others now stood outside of a seal that formed underneath the ground that the newly revived Team 7 stood on.

"Welcome back, Naruto." A blonde man with no arms commented. From the color of his eyes, he was brought back with Edo Tensei.

"Dad..."Naruto quietly muttered.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, 'He's Naruto's father?'

"**No, he's the pizza delivery man.**" Shinju sarcastically commented.

'...Since when did you talk back?' Sakura mentally asked.

"**I don't know...rebirth can do scary things.**" Shinju said. Kakashi was close to collapsing but Naruto hurriedly summoned a clone that'll help watch over him. Sakura sighed as she watched the heart touching moment between father and son.

"Happy birthday, Naruto. You've grown so much." The blonde haired man grinned as the sun began to rise over the horizon. The other shortly revived kages started to disappear in light.

Naruto smiled, "...I've got a dream... I want to be Hokage. Just like you, Dad, maybe even better. I will become one! So tell Mom over there, wont you?" Tears began to leak out of his eyes, "I'm doing very well!" He concluded as his father burned to pieces and disappeared in the light. Kurama agreed to stay with Naruto(Pretty sure he wanted that) as the other biju began to dream about returning to their own separate homes.

"Naruto, Sasuke...Have you answer changed after the fight with Kaguya?" The man floating midair asked. He had black spheres hovering near him, along with a black colored staff.

"Answers?" I muttered out loud.

"Nope, mine's the same." Naruto grinned.

He nodded before turning to Sauske, "What about you, Sasuke?"

"Let me see..." Sasuke darkly muttered, "But first I will put the hokage's out of their miseries." Everyone had a shocked look on their faces except for Sakura, who's eyes were half lidded.

"What did you say, Sasuke?" Kakashi mildly growled.

Sasuke ignored his former sensei, "Also, the biju's! I will destroy you as well when the time comes!"

"What did you say!" Kurama demanded as he brought his paw back in a punch. But it was too late, they were all stuck under the power of the rinnegan/sharingan. Rock began to trap them into a sphere as they were lifted into the air.

"Naruto...Help us." Kurama weakly muttered before he too was forced into the air.

"The past...is repeating itself. I wont be able to help any longer, I must leave soon." The old man said.

"Old man Rikudou, thank you. But I'm not Ashura! And Sasuke isn't Indra!" Naruto had a determined look in his eyes, Old man Rikudou smiled.

"Very well, goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto. I hope...you can rewrite destiny." Rikudou smiled before he disappeared.

"Come on, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke ignored him and looked at Sakura, "Sakura, come with me. We'll build the new world, together." Sakura stood up and walked over, Sasuke had a look of triumph written on his face. "I knew you would-"

But he jumped back as Sakura suddenly lashed out a black sword made out of pure chakra, Naruto came forward but was held back by another black sword that appeared from Sakura's other hand. "Sakura-chan...Why?" Naruto asked.

"The thing is...I never said..." He looked at Naruto with a dark look in her eyes, "I would help you." Sakura glared at Sasuke, "You too." Her skin began to turn a pale white as her Akatsuki cloak began to glow white with Shinju's chakra. "What I hope to create...is a world...without ninjas." Everyone had a look of shock pasted on their faces. "A world without ninjas is a world without war, a place where peace could prosper."

"Sakura!" Kakashi yelled as the Naruto clone helped him up, "Do you know what that means?! A world without chakra, a world without shinobi's, do you really want that? Even if that new world could bring peace, war will always come back! Are you still stuck on the Akatsuki's forgotten dream?"

Sakura looked back at Kakashi, "Which is why I shall rule it, control it, I shall be the only one with chakra, then war will never come back." Sakura had a crazed look in her eyes.

"**Hehe...Finally.**" Shinju muttered.

Sasuke glared, "That will be impossible, because I will continue with my revolution, before you."  
"Sasuke! Sakura! Stop it!" Naruto screamed, "This will bring us nothing but even more pain! So please-"

"Shut up." Sakura now turned her glare on Naruto, "You have no right to talk, you killed my family." Naruto clenched his jaw.

"Then we'll settle this." Naruto muttered, he ran off and Sasuke and Sakura followed.

Kakashi tried to follow but the clone held him back, "You're too weak to walk. Don't worry, boss'll take care of it." The clond reassured a worried Kakashi.

Kakashi looked up at the sky, 'We were so close...but now we're farther then ever, aren't we Naruto?' A memory of Team 7's group photo popped into his mind, 'I'm...so weak...'

**I wonder how they'll react when they find out Sakura's blind? Hehe...**

**Anyway, we're so close to the ending!**

**~Pleasereadmything**


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